TALLAHASSEE, Fl. (WTXL) -- The FSU emergency siren sound is ominous and loud, and it grabs the attention of anyone in earshot. It is just one part of the emergency alerts system that FSU tested today across campus.
"After its done, we ask for feedback from people. Did you hear it, did you get it, did it come over your text messages, did you see it on your email? Did you hear the alarm siren go?" said Major Jim Russell of the FSU Police Department. "That way we can tweak it. And we get a lot of good feedback from people to make sure that it works because frankly when it has to work, it has to work."
And during the night of November 20th, last year, the sirens went off early in the morning warning students of the dangerous situation that had occurred in the middle of campus. That night, Myron May opened fire on three students in front of Strozier Library and police were very quick to respond to the situation before shooting him down in front of the library.
FSU Police say a new system was recently implemented for Emergency Management that only requires a simple push of a button in a dire situation to quickly alert students and faculty either through noise or through text.
"Yeah, it's extremely loud", said Catherine Chivers, a student of FSU. "I live about five minutes from the stadium, but there are a couple of large buildings in between and I was just up late the night of the shooting and heard the sirens going off.... And then got the alerts."
