In an effort to keep our community more informed about emergency incidents in their vicinity, the UW-Madison Police Department is pleased to launch a program called “Off-Campus Alerts.” These alerts are a supplement to WiscAlerts, which are emergency notifications about dangerous incidents actively happening on the UW-Madison campus. The key difference is that Off-Campus Alerts (OCAs) will alert our community about significant threats in certain areas OFF the UW-Madison campus – in areas where a large number of our students live or frequently visit.
Recent feedback suggests our community has a desire to be more informed about significant crimes and emergencies happening near campus. Because OCAs deal with incidents outside of UWPD’s jurisdiction, we can only issue an alert when we become aware of the incident and have verified the information. Therefore, Off-Campus Alerts are activated when the UW-Madison Police Department receives information from the City of Madison Police Department about the active emergency situation.
Unlike WiscAlerts, Off-Campus Alerts are opt-in – meaning you must sign-up to receive the alert. UW-Madison students, faculty, and staff can simply log-in to their WiscAlert settings at go.wisc.edu/wiscalerts and select the Off-Campus Alerts checkbox. Significant crimes and/or emergencies that happen within a certain geographical area, just off campus, will initiate an OCA and users will receive an email and text with information. See the map below for the OCA area:
