The University of Hawaii at Hilo will conduct a campuswide emergency exercise and lockdown drill on July 30.
Interim Vice Chancellor for Administrative Affairs Kalei Rapoza said the exercise will be precipitated by a fictitious off-campus event.
That event “will not be real,” he explained, but will be used to initiate the university’s emergency and lockdown procedures.
UH-Hilo is doing the drill over the summer “to allow staff who are here the opportunity to practice and go through the lockdown process in hopes that we will be having another campuswide drill in the school year,” he said.
A campus presentation to prepare for the exercise will be held from 1-2:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Rose and Raymond Tseng Terrace, UCB 127.
Earlier this year, the university planned an active shooter drill, originally scheduled to take place in February, but that was postponed.
Rapoza said the July drill will not be an active shooter drill and no police will be involved.
During an incident on campus last September, students were advised to shelter in place after a possible threat of violence that prompted police to respond, but Rapoza said that is “slightly different” from a lockdown.
The university sent out text and email alerts during the incident but did not initiate its emergency notification and synchronous clock system, which displays the time and also will scroll emergency messages on units located in classrooms and other locations around campus.
Rapoza said the university has been testing the system “pretty consistently for the last year,” to ensure it works, and any portions of the system that aren’t working the way it is needed, “we’re getting them addressed by the manufacturer.”
Email Stephanie Salmons at ssalmons@hawaiitribune-herald.com.