| Urgent: 617-495-1212 (Longwood 617-432-1212)
| Business: 617-495-1215 |
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Timely Warnings
The Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) provides timely warnings to the University community when a significant criminal incident occurs on campus or in an area surrounding campus that represents a continuing public safety threat. Decisions to disseminate a warning will be decided on a case-by-case basis in light of all the facts surrounding the crime and the continuing danger to the campus community. The purpose of the warning is to aid in the prevention of similar crimes by alerting the community about the incident and providing information on what actions people can take to diminish their chances of being victimized. A warning that could jeopardize a criminal investigation will not be distributed. The amount and type of information presented in the warning will vary depending on the circumstances of the crime. An effort will always be made to distribute a warning within twenty-four hours of the crime and to make the warning a preventive tool, not solely a description of the incident. Significant criminal incidents that might elicit a timely warning include, but are not limited to, crimes of violence or patterns of property crimes.
Timely warnings are distributed as a Community Advisory or as a Crime Alert. When crimes pose a threat to the entire University community, a Community Advisory is written and distributed to the entire University community. When crimes pose a threat to a specific population or location, a Crime Alert is written and disseminated to the relevant population of students, faculty, and staff or to the students, faculty, and staff in the specific area or location.
The community advisories and crime alerts are disseminated directly to Harvard College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences students and forwarded to the Dean of the School(s), department public affairs officers, and the Director of News and Public Affairs for the University, among others. Representatives are asked to post advisories and alerts in a conspicuous location in addition to forwarding them electronically to their students, faculty, and staff. To subscribe to the community advisory distribution list click here.
To view current and archived advisories, click here.
Emergency Communication
In the event of an emergency, the University and HUPD have at their disposal a wide variety of communication tools in order to reach out rapidly and efficient. These include: email, 617-496-6397 (NEWS), a call-in emergency line available in the event of an emergency, school and university web pages, text and voice messaging, and a special website www.emergency.harvard.edu which is activated at the time of major emergencies.
MessageMe Emergency Text Notifications
MessageMe is a communications system designed to send text messages to the cell phones of students, faculty and staff in the event of a life-threatening, campus-wide emergency. It is a system that complements the other emergency communications capabilities the University have in place which include emergency web sites, broadcast email, phone conference bridges, and voice messaging systems
Any person with a Harvard ID is eligible to sign up for the MessaageMe service. They must have a cell phone that is equipped to receive text mail messages. Users of the service are required to update their contact information annually at the start of the academic year by logging on to messageme.harvard.edu. Members of the Harvard community are not required to sign up for the MessageMe service.
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