West Georgia Technical College (WGTC) is proud to announce a comprehensive initiative aimed at enhancing safety and security across its campuses. The College is committed to providing a secure environment for students, faculty, staff, and visitors, and the new measures represent a significant step forward in achieving this goal.

Key highlights of the enhanced safety and security measures include:

Emergency Response and Evacuation Procedures: WGTC conducted a thorough overhaul and updated its Emergency Operations Plan. This guide gives clear guidance and direction to anyone responding to a situation that may arise on campus.

State-of-the-Art Surveillance Systems: The College recently upgraded its surveillance system to Avigilon. The cameras provide excellent interior and exterior coverage across all campuses and work in tandem with the security system.

Personal Safety: Every employee is outfitted with a CENTEGIX® CrisisAlert badge. These badges are wearable mobile panic buttons that give employees the ability to get help instantly in an emergency. With the push of a button, users discreetly alert WGTC police in seconds with precise incident location details. Since implementation, WGTC police officers have received over a dozen medical alerts and were able to respond in less than one minute. All campuses were upgraded to the newest version of the software in December.

Life-Saving Measures: Over 140 WGTC employees completed a STOP THE BLEED® course and are now trained in life-saving techniques to control bleeding in emergencies. Because of this participation, additional Stop the Bleed kits were donated to each campus. In addition, more automated external defibrillators (AED), emergency jump kits, and over two dozen Narcan doses were added across all WGTC campuses to augment the supply of what was already in place.

Emergency Notification System: The College added ReGroup Mass Notification® to the College’s communication system. ReGroup allows WGTC police to simultaneously send messages through phone, text, and email to all employees and students in a matter of seconds for emergency notifications or campus closures.

In the coming months, the WGTC Police Department will roll out additional safety opportunities for employees including First Aid, CPR, and AED training.

“The utmost safety for our campuses is non-negotiable,” WGTC President Dr. Julie Post said. “I appreciate Chief Perry’s vigilance in ensuring we are in a culture of continuous improvement with evaluation and application of our expectations, equipment, procedures, and training.”

WGTC Police Chief James Perry is proud of the College’s employees and students for working to keep campuses safe.

“I appreciate all employees who have stepped up to learn new skills that help provide safety and security to our college,” Perry said. “I am even more appreciative of our students who are here to learn and gain skills to better themselves. We are fortunate to have a great student population and very few issues.”

In response to the ever-evolving landscape of safety concerns, WGTC’s goal is to be ready for any situation that may arise.

“Emergencies do and will occur,” said Perry. “We believe in being prepared for the worst while maintaining the hope that we never have to implement these preparations.”

West Georgia Technical College, with campuses in Carroll, Coweta, Douglas, Haralson, and Troup counties and class sites in Heard and Meriwether counties, offers more than 120 associate degree, diploma, and technical certificate programs of study. A unit of the Technical College System of Georgia, West Georgia Tech is one of the largest of the state’s 22 technical colleges. For more information, please visit www.westgatech.edu.