UCAPD kicked off National Campus Safety Awareness Month at the Bears football game on Sept. 2, beginning its campaign to inform students, faculty and staff of the many ways the department offers to help keep their belongings and themselves safe.

“It went very well,” UCAPD Public Information Officer Arch Jones said. “We think it was success.”

At the football game, UCAPD set up a mobile command unit where they tried to talk students, faculty and staff into signing up for the campus’s alert system

The alert system sends mass notifications to all registered in the event of an emergency.

They were also able to sign up for Operation ID, a database where students can register their valuables, such as laptops or cell phones, by their serial number.

Those who visited the booth were also encouraged to watch “Shots Fired on Campus: When Lightning Strikes,” a 20-minute film used to educate students on what to do in the case of an active shooter on campus.

The film was created by the Center for Personal Protection and Safety.

Jones said he hopes the video won’t make students fearful, but mindful instead.

“We want our students, faculty and staff to get a view of that,” Jones said, who also said the department as a whole agreed that the video is one of the best pieces they had seen.

For students who can’t make it to any of the showings, or those who want to see it outside of the scheduled events, the video can be found on their MyUCA account.

“We’re going to try to give them as many opportunities as we can through events through September and this semester to see it,” Jones said.

Throughout the next month, UCAPD will continue to encourage the UCA community to take advantage of these three opportunities.

Every Wednesday this month, UCAPD will set up a table in the Student Center where students can sign up for the alert and registration systems.

On Thursdays, UCAPD will show the video in the technology plaza and will also have tables set up where students can sign up.

“We definitely feel like we’re going to get more involvement through students, faculty and staff this month with our events,” Jones said. “These are three things we feel will effect campus safety immediately.”

The department’s efforts won’t be constricted to the month of September.

“As the semester progresses, we’re going to do more on campus to emphasize these three things,” Jones said.

As required by law, the department will host one major crisis drill this year. Last year, the department hosted its “Active Shooter” exercise.

This year, Jones said, the department may perform a drill of a natural disaster or an explosion.

Jones said there will be meetings throughout the next few weeks to determine what the department will do.

This doesn’t mean that the department won’t be ready for the any disaster, Senior Officer Jake Moss said.

“Just because there’s no drill doesn’t mean we’re not practicing,” Moss said.