Tech Emergency Notification Service Did Its Part Tuesday

Tennessee Tech’s emergency text notification service worked as intended as shots were fired Tuesday night near campus.

Tennessee Tech News and Public Relations Director Jonathan Frank said Campus Police sent out an alert moments after shots were fired, and the “all clear” was given within just 15 minutes. He said students are automatically enrolled in the service when they come to Tennessee Tech. The service keeps everyone up-to-date in real-time during a potential emergency.

“Incidents like this are exceedingly rare,” Frank said. “We’ve got a great campus community and the broader Cookeville community with dedicated emergency personnel who work very hard to keep us safe every day, and they performed their jobs very well Tuesday evening.”

An apparent road-range incident led to multiple shots being fired near campus. A suspect was later found near the Student Recreation and Fitness Center.

Frank said in 2023, the school partnered with Putnam County to enhance the timeliness of the service. He said now, Putnam County can trigger the alert system to notify Tech students and faculty of a situation, and Tech can do the same for Putnam County.

Frank said students’ families, campus neighbors, and anyone in the Tennessee Tech family can sign up to receive alerts and stay informed.

“Tennessee Tech is actually one of the safest university campuses in the state of Tennessee,” Frank said. “That’s a testament to our hard-working University Police Department and to the great home base that we have here in Cookeville Tennessee and in Putnam County.”

He said Putnam County Emergency Management Director Brandon Smith has been very active in helping keep the Tech campus safe and aware in the event of emergencies.

“It has really helped to ensure that there is no lag time in notifying our community about a potential emergency situation,” Frank said. “We work very well with our partners at the county.”

Frank said the service can also be deployed during inclement weather. He said while it is rare that a text is sent out at all, there should be no potential harm to the campus community that they are not made aware of immediately.

“That individual was taken into police custody within minutes and all clear was announced within 15 minutes of the first emergency alert,” Frank said. “We are very glad that we can now say that there was, in fact, not an active threat to our campus.”

Frank said those who wish to sign up for alerts can do so by visiting www.tntech.edu/police/ttualert.php.