TCC
Emergency Notification & Timely Warning Procedures — 2025 Annual Security Report
Tarrant County College District — the multi-campus community-college district serving Fort Worth and Tarrant County, Texas — runs two tiered systems: myTCC Alerts (powered by AlertAware) for large-scale, campus- or district-wide emergencies and Alertus for single-campus incidents, with timely-warning and emergency-notification authority under the Chief of Police per the 2025 Annual Security Report.
Read the official policyInstitution
Tarrant County College District
Community College · TX
~50,000 studentsmyTCC Alerts (AlertAware) / Alertus
In the policy’s own words
What the policy says
Emergency notification triggerverbatim
Tarrant County College will immediately notify the campus community upon the confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation occurring on the campus involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees.
- — Restates the Clery Act emergency-notification standard nearly verbatim, with 'immediately' as the timing commitment.
Decision authority in an extreme emergencyverbatim
In an extreme emergency, the notification process will be implemented at the sole direction of the Chief of Police, the Assistant Chief of Police or designee, the Director of Emergency & Risk Management or the Manager of Emergency & Risk Management or designee.
- — Names a specific line of authority for fast-moving incidents, bypassing the broader Decision Team when speed is required.
Timely warning definitionverbatim
A Timely Warning Notice alerts the campus community of a Clery Act crime occurring within the Tarrant County College District's Clery reportable geography that in the judgment of the chief of police or his designee, constitutes a serious or continuing threat to students, employees, and campus visitors.
- — Ties the timely-warning trigger to Clery geography and the chief of police's judgment of a serious or continuing threat, extended to campus visitors.
myTCC Alerts scope and SMS opt-inverbatim
myTCC alerts is the emergency alert system used for large-scale incidents affecting a whole campus or the entire District.
- — Defines myTCC Alerts as the wide-scope tier; voice/email enrollment is automatic while text-message alerts require logging in to opt in.
At a glance
How this policy works
- When it activates
- Emergency notification: immediate notification upon confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation occurring on the campus involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees. Timely warning: a Clery Act crime within the District's Clery geography that, in the judgment of the Chief of Police or designee, constitutes a serious or continuing threat to students, employees, and campus visitors.
- Who decides
- A Decision Team convenes without delay; in an extreme emergency the notification process is implemented at the sole direction of the Chief of Police, the Assistant Chief of Police or designee, the Director of Emergency & Risk Management, or the Manager of Emergency & Risk Management or designee. Timely Warning Notices are typically written by the administrative captain and/or the police compliance program specialist.
- Timeliness standard
- TCC will immediately notify the campus community upon confirmation of an emergency; the Decision Team communicates and/or convenes without delay to implement the notification process; Timely Warning Notices are distributed community-wide as soon as pertinent information is available.
- Emergency notification vs. timely warning
- Separates emergency notifications (confirmed significant emergency / immediate threat to health or safety, immediate notification) from timely warnings (Clery Act crime in Clery geography posing a serious or continuing threat to students, employees, and visitors), with victim names withheld as confidential.
- Testing cadence
- Emergency drills are conducted across TCC's campuses and ancillary facilities every semester to test the operational effectiveness of the systems and coordinate rapid police response.
- Scope & limits
- Tiered by scope: myTCC Alerts (AlertAware) for whole-campus or district-wide large-scale incidents; Alertus for single-campus incidents (desktops, VoIP phones, beacons, digital signage). Voice and email enrollment is automatic; SMS requires opt-in.
ChannelsSmsEmailPhone CallPush NotificationDesktop PopupDigital SignagePa SystemWebsite
Analysis
Reading the policy
The Tarrant County College District (TCC) operates six campuses across Fort Worth and Tarrant County, Texas. Its emergency-communications architecture is explicitly tiered. myTCC Alerts — powered by AlertAware through a partnership with TCC's Department of Emergency & Risk Management — is the system used for large-scale incidents affecting a whole campus or the entire District. Alertus is the application used to notify students, faculty, and staff of an incident that affects a single TCC campus, pushing alerts to networked computer desktops, VoIP desk phones, alert beacons, and digital signage as well as a free mobile app.
Enrollment in myTCC Alerts is automatic but channel-tiered. When a student joins TCC, they are automatically enrolled to receive myTCC alerts by phone call using the number provided on the admission application; students and employees are also automatically enrolled for voice and email notifications. To receive text-message alerts, however, a person must log in to their myTCC alerts account and opt in — a deliberate split that keeps voice/email universal while making SMS consent-based. New students, faculty, and staff receive an email with a username and password to update their myTCC alert profile, and the AlertAware mobile app is available in the Apple and Google Play stores.
The activation standard mirrors the Clery Act: TCC will immediately notify the campus community upon the confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation occurring on the campus involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees. A Decision Team communicates and/or convenes without delay to implement the notification process; in an extreme emergency, the notification process is implemented at the sole direction of the Chief of Police, the Assistant Chief of Police or designee, the Director of Emergency & Risk Management, or the Manager of Emergency & Risk Management or designee. The District's Emergency Operations Plan is built on the National Incident Management System (NIMS) per Homeland Security Presidential Directive HSPD-5.
On Clery framing, TCC defines a timely warning as a notice that alerts the campus community of a Clery Act crime occurring within the District's Clery-reportable geography that, in the judgment of the Chief of Police or designee, constitutes a serious or continuing threat to students, employees, and campus visitors. Timely Warning Notices are distributed community-wide as soon as pertinent information is available, withhold victims' names as confidential, and are typically written by the administrative captain and/or the police compliance program specialist (or, in their absence, a command-level Police Department staff member). TCC tests the program through drills conducted across its campuses and ancillary facilities every semester. Full procedural detail appears in the TCC 2025 Annual Security Report.
Takeaways
Key findings
TCC runs a tiered architecture: myTCC Alerts (powered by AlertAware) for whole-campus or district-wide incidents, and Alertus for single-campus incidents via desktops, VoIP phones, beacons, and digital signage.
Voice and email enrollment in myTCC Alerts is automatic (phone call uses the admission-application number); text-message alerts require the user to log in and opt in.
Emergency notifications go out immediately upon confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to health or safety.
In an extreme emergency, the notification process is implemented at the sole direction of the Chief of Police, Assistant Chief or designee, or the Director/Manager of Emergency & Risk Management; otherwise a Decision Team convenes without delay.
Timely Warning Notices cover Clery-geography crimes posing a serious or continuing threat to students, employees, and visitors, withhold victim names, and are typically drafted by the administrative captain or police compliance program specialist; drills run every semester.
Policy, meet practice
When this system actually fired
1 documented time TCC’s alert system was used, from the case archive.
Provenance
Sources
- Official
- Official
- Clery ASR
- Official
Tags
policyemergency-notificationtimely-warningcommunity-collegemytcc-alertsalertawarealertustexas
Added 2026-06-21Updated 2026-06-21Via ingestion