University Policy 12110
Effective Date
September 2014
Last Revision Date
September 19, 2025
Responsible Party
Department of Public Safety, (208) 426-6911
Scope and Audience
This policy applies to all faculty, staff, and students.
Additional Authority
- Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act (Clery Act), 20 U.S.C. §1092(f);
- 34 CFR 668.46(e), Reporting and Disclosure of Information
- University Policy 9270 (Communicable Disease)
- University Policy 12000 (Clery Act Compliance)
- University Policy 12090 (Timely Warning)
1. Policy Purpose
To establish the University’s responsibilities and procedures for issuing Emergency Notifications for emergency incidents and/or dangerous situations.
2. Policy Statement
Boise State University is committed to ensuring the safety and security of its students, faculty, staff, and visitors by issuing Emergency Notifications for emergency incidents and/or dangerous situations to protect its critical infrastructure and key resources. The University will, without delay, and taking into account the safety of the community, determine the content of the notification and initiate the notification system, unless issuing a notification would, in the professional judgment of responsible authorities, compromise efforts to assist a victim or to contain, respond to, or otherwise mitigate the emergency.
3. Definitions
3.1 BroncoAlert
The automated system used to send Emergency Notifications in the event of an emergency or critical incident at Boise State University.
3.2 Emergency Notification
A communication triggered when there is confirmation of a dangerous situation or emergency with immediate impact to life or property at Boise State University.
3.3 Timely Warning
A communication triggered when a Clery Act crime is reported and the University determines there is a continuing threat to faculty, staff, students, or visitors. Clery Act crime reports often do not require immediate notice (an Emergency Notification) but are released once the pertinent information is available (See University Policy 12090 – Timely Warning for Crime Prevention) if a notice is deemed necessary.
4. Emergency Notification Procedures
4.1 Emergency Notification Circumstances
a. The University will issue an Emergency Notification upon confirming a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students, faculty, staff, and/or visitors. If a threat is not immediate and involves a crime, the University may follow its Timely Warning procedures in University Policy 12090 (Timely Warning for Crime Prevention).
b. The University will not immediately issue an Emergency Notification for a confirmed emergency if doing so would compromise the efforts to assist a victim, contain the emergency, respond to the emergency, or otherwise mitigate the emergency.
c. Confirmation that there is a significant emergency or dangerous situation is achieved when subject matter experts working from credible sources confirm an emergency with one of the individuals listed in Section 4.2. Subject matter experts include but are not limited to local emergency services, Emergency Management, and the National Weather Service.
d. The following list of situations, or similar circumstances, could require an Emergency Notification:
- A potential life-threatening situation on campus (active shooter or bomb threat)
- A building emergency
- A communicable disease outbreak
- Extreme weather conditions (official weather warnings)
- Unplanned University closures (for weather, power outages, etc.)
4.2 Assessment and Authorization of Emergency Notification
One of the following individuals, or their designee, can confirm an emergency or dangerous situation with personnel on the scene and authorize an Emergency Notification.:
- Associate Vice President of Public Safety
- Director for Security, Police, and Event Operations
- Senior Boise Police Department Officer on duty assigned to Boise State
- On-scene Department of Public Safety Incident Commander
- Director of Emergency Management
- Clery Compliance Officer
- Department of Public Safety Dispatch
a. If time allows, the authorizer should consult with the Associate Vice President for the Department of Public Safety before authorizing an Emergency Notification. Once authorized, the Department of Public Safety will create the Emergency Notification for distribution.
4.3 Emergency Notification Content
a. The Department of Public Safety will determine the content of the Emergency Notification by assessing the situation and, if appropriate, selecting the relevant pre-approved template message for the Emergency Notification or drafting a message specific to the situation.
b. The following factors could influence the content of the final message: armed suspects, bomb threat, fire, Hazmat incident, shooting, street closure, or weather-related closure of the University.
c. Names of victims, if any, will be treated as confidential and withheld.
4.4 Distribution
a. The Department of Public Safety will send Emergency Notifications through BroncoAlert or other communication vehicles.
b. The Office of Communications and Marketing may send information about the notification via official means to the general public and the media.
c. The Department of Public Safety will determine the appropriate segment (or segments) of the campus community to receive the Emergency Notification based on which segments of the University population need information about the emergency. Generally, the University will send the entire campus community an Emergency Notification. If sending the notification to some members of the campus community and not others becomes necessary, these factors will be considered: type of emergency, location of emergency, or the possibility that the emergency will become more dangerous.
4.5 Emergency Status Updates and “All Clear” Notifications
a. Emergency Notification status updates will be made when new information or instructions are available.
b. An “All Clear” notification indicates the emergency situation has been contained. All Clear notifications must be approved by the current Incident Commander.
Revision History
June 30, 2021; September 19, 2025