False alarm at UWB. Emergency SMS system works, university responded immediately

At 5:30 this morning, the University of West Bohemia’s emergency SMS system was activated at one of its faculties. The message also reached the Police of the Czech Republic, which sent patrols to the site.

The university began investigating the situation immediately after the message was sent out. It quickly became clear that there was no danger and that the message had been sent by mistake while the system was being operated. “We immediately sent another SMS to all recipients informing them that it had been a false alarm,” said Jan Blahož, Head of the Safety Department.

The incident also showed that the university’s emergency communication system works and that messages can reach people very quickly. In recent months, the University of West Bohemia has been strengthening the security of its campuses, and tools like this are part of these measures. “We will now take steps to ensure that this does not happen again. We are glad that this happened before we fully launch the security operations centre at the start of the semester,” added UWB Rector Miroslav Lávička.

“We would also like to thank the Police for responding immediately to the message they received from students or employees at UWB and for checking the situation on site,” the rector added.