UC San Diego
PPM 516-29: Emergency Notification Policy
UC San Diego's Emergency Notification Policy (PPM 516-29) governs the Triton Alert system, an Everbridge-based platform the university maintains, as required by the Clery Act, to immediately inform the community upon confirmation of an emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees. Triton Alert delivers time-sensitive notifications by text message and email and, when an emergency affects only part of campus, the policy names a specific set of police and emergency-management officials who may authorize a notification to only the affected group.
Read the official policyInstitution
University of California, San Diego
Public R1 · CA
~42,875 studentsTriton Alert
In the policy’s own words
What the policy says
Clery-grounded purpose of Triton Alertverbatim
UC San Diego has developed and maintains the TRITON ALERT Emergency Notification system, which is used to immediately inform the UC San Diego community upon confirmation of an emergency or dangerous situation that involves an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees.
- — Tracks the federal Clery emergency-notification standard ('immediately inform ... upon confirmation ... immediate threat to the health or safety').
Decision authority for partial-campus activationverbatim
If an emergency affects only a small portion of UC San Diego and is unlikely to impact the larger community, the decision to send a TRITON ALERT Emergency Notification only to the group affected will be made by the UC San Diego Police Department Chief, Assistant Chief, Captain, Lieutenant, Watch Commander, the Campus Environment, Health & Safety Department Director or the UC San Diego Campus Emergency Manager.
- — Names the specific roster of officials authorized to scope a notification to only the affected group.
Everbridge delivery platformverbatim
UC San Diego uses a third-party company, Everbridge, which delivers time-sensitive emergency notifications via text messaging and email to the UC San Diego community.
- — Identifies the vendor (Everbridge) and the two primary delivery channels (text and email).
At a glance
How this policy works
- When it activates
- Triton Alert is used to immediately inform the community upon confirmation of an emergency or dangerous situation that involves an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees — for example a fire, hazardous chemical spill, earthquake, weather emergency, or suspicious activity/threat to safety occurring on on-campus property.
- Who decides
- For an emergency affecting only a small portion of campus and unlikely to impact the larger community, the decision to send a Triton Alert only to the affected group is made by the UC San Diego Police Department Chief, Assistant Chief, Captain, Lieutenant, Watch Commander, the Campus Environment, Health & Safety Department Director, or the UC San Diego Campus Emergency Manager.
- Timeliness standard
- The policy requires Triton Alert to be used to 'immediately inform' the community 'upon confirmation' of an emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to health or safety — the Clery Act emergency-notification standard. UC San Diego does not publish a separate numeric minute target on its public pages.
- Emergency notification vs. timely warning
- PPM 516-29 is expressly grounded in the Clery Act: UC San Diego developed and maintains Triton Alert as required by the Act, and the policy applies to emergency notifications regarding incidents on on-campus property as defined by Clery. Timely warnings, community alerts and notices are handled separately by the UC San Diego Police Department.
- Testing cadence
- The campus tests Triton Alert periodically as part of its Clery-compliant emergency-notification program; the exact schedule is documented in the full PPM 516-29 policy and the Annual Security & Fire Safety Report, which could not be loaded directly in this environment, so the cadence is described generally rather than quoted.
- Scope & limits
- PPM 516-29 applies to emergency notifications regarding incidents occurring on on-campus property at UC San Diego as defined by the Clery Act. Activations may target the whole community or, for a localized emergency unlikely to affect the larger community, only the affected group, at the discretion of the named authorizing officials. All ucsd.edu account holders are enrolled automatically; phone text registration is by texting TRITONALERT to 888777.
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Analysis
Reading the policy
UC San Diego has a formal, numbered emergency-notification policy — PPM 516-29 — that ties the Triton Alert system directly to the Clery Act. The policy states that, as required by the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, the university 'has developed and maintains the TRITON ALERT Emergency Notification system, which is used to immediately inform the UC San Diego community upon confirmation of an emergency or dangerous situation that involves an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees.' That mirrors the federal emergency-notification standard nearly word-for-word, anchoring the trigger at confirmation of an immediate threat.
**Decision authority:** PPM 516-29 is unusually explicit about who decides on a partial-campus activation. 'If an emergency affects only a small portion of UC San Diego and is unlikely to impact the larger community,' the decision to send a Triton Alert only to the affected group 'will be made by the UC San Diego Police Department Chief, Assistant Chief, Captain, Lieutenant, Watch Commander, the Campus Environment, Health & Safety Department Director or the UC San Diego Campus Emergency Manager.' Naming a defined roster of authorizing officials is a hallmark of a mature, Clery-compliant notification policy.
**Channels and scope:** Triton Alert runs on the third-party Everbridge platform, which 'delivers time-sensitive emergency notifications via text messaging and email to the UC San Diego community.' All campus community members — students, academics and staff — are enrolled automatically through their ucsd.edu account, and individuals can register a phone for text alerts by texting TRITONALERT to 888777. By its own terms, the policy 'applies to emergency notifications sent by the University regarding incidents that occur on on-campus property at UC San Diego as defined by' the Clery Act, which scopes it to Clery on-campus geography.
**Clery framing and related warnings:** PPM 516-29 covers the emergency-notification (immediate-threat) tier; UC San Diego documents Clery timely warnings, community alerts and notices separately through the UC San Diego Police Department, and publishes its program in the campus Annual Security & Fire Safety Report. Specific testing cadence and any first-responder delay-exception language are part of the full policy/ASR text, which this web environment could not load directly, so those details are described in general terms rather than quoted.
Takeaways
Key findings
UC San Diego governs Triton Alert through a formal numbered standalone policy, PPM 516-29 (Emergency Notification Policy).
The policy is expressly grounded in the Clery Act and uses Triton Alert to immediately inform the community upon confirmation of an immediate threat to health or safety.
PPM 516-29 names a specific roster of officials (police Chief, Assistant Chief, Captain, Lieutenant, Watch Commander, EH&S Director, or Campus Emergency Manager) who may authorize a notification to only an affected group.
Triton Alert runs on Everbridge and delivers via text and email; all ucsd.edu account holders are enrolled automatically, with phone-text opt-in by texting TRITONALERT to 888777.
The policy is scoped to incidents on on-campus property as defined by the Clery Act; timely warnings and community alerts are handled separately by the UC San Diego Police Department.
Policy, meet practice
When this system actually fired
4 documented times UC San Diego’s alert system was used, from the case archive.
Provenance
Sources
- Official
- Official
- Official
- Official
- Clery ASR
Tags
policyemergency-notificationtimely-warningtriton-alerteverbridgecleryppm-516-29california
Added 2026-06-21Updated 2026-06-21Via ingestion