COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Code Maroon is an app on the campus of Texas A&M University keeping students, faculty/staff, and visitors up to date with real-time alerts.
“The Code Maroon app focuses on not only giving you an emergency message at that time; we have some type of life safety situation on campus, but it also has all of the emergency procedures so that you know what to do should you find yourself in an emergency situation,” said Monica Martinez, interim director emergency management, Texas A&M University.
Amy Anderson is a freshman at Texas A&M and says her friends and sister encouraged her to get the app.
“My sister, she’s a senior,” said Anderson. “I think she has it. She’s the one who told me to get it, so I was like ‘I have it now.’ It’s definitely cool that it alerts you and makes you feel really safe.”
Martinez says the app can be used by any and everyone, making it available to parents and visitors.
“[It's for] anybody who has a loved one here on our campus community or involved with our campus community [and] want to receive these alerts,” said Martinez. “It’s a great way for them to stay connected and know what’s going on, safety-wise, on campus.
Having this app helps Anderson’s mother keep up with safety notifications around campus.
“My mom definitely appreciates the app because she’s like very nervous and this is like a really good way to be on top of things to know before anything happens,” said Anderson.
For immediate safety on campus, there is a feature that allows your friends to track your activity.
“It has ‘friend walk’ as well, so if you’re ever walking around late on campus and you want to let your friends know...you can send them your location and they can actually track you through the app and...when you arrive safely to your dorm," said Martinez.
There have been nearly 22,000 downloads of the app since its launch in September 2020.
The app notifies people of weather alerts, emergency procedures to take on campus in the event of an active shooter, leak of hazardous materials and more.
“Something really urgent like an active shooter situation, they have the Code Maroon system pulled up in dispatch,” said Martinez. “They can immediately type in the information. We have templates built into that system so they can just fill in the blank on the location and the emergency actions that need to be taken. They can hit send and that information can go out very quickly.”
Martinez says app users will receive real-time updates from university dispatch.
“You’re likely getting that information from the first responders that are on scene but it’s to help other people avoid the area or understand that there is something going on in a specific area of campus that they need to avoid,” she said.
Whether you are a student, you work at Texas A&M, or you’re planning to visit, you can download the ‘Texas A&M- Code Maroon’ app in your app store.