Creating a Campus Based Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)

Abstract

This article provides the reader with information regarding forming a community emergency response team (CERT) at a community college. College public safety departments are efficient entities in ordinary times. However, recent events at community colleges across the country have shown that there have been situations where their capabilities have been stretched. Additionally, in the early stages of a widespread disaster it is extremely probable that not only a college, but also the larger community in which it resides, will be on its own and will need to call upon the assistance of its citizens. Communities need to be trained in order to provide an effective supplementary response team to reduce the number of casualties. Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) and Student Emergency Response Teams (SERT) have been forming across the country to prepare college communities to assist themselves in the event of a widespread emergency that depletes the resources of local first responders.