Nixle is a free program designed to inform students and faculty about ongoing, possibly hazardous situations around the college and community.

“It was implemented four years ago,” El Camino College’s Chief of Police Michael Trevis said. “It is an opt-in opt-out app and we encourage people to sign up for it simply on your device.”

When subscribed, the Nixle program sends a text or email, alerting the subscriber of a potential ongoing threat campus police have verified.

“We needed to have a way so if there was an emergency on this campus, for example, a life-threatening emergency; if there was an active shooter on campus, a gas leak, we want to be able to get out information to people,” Trevis said.

Trevis works with the Marketing and Communications team at El Camino College to send out the same alert on multiple social media platforms.

A Nixle alert is not to be confused with the campus advisory students receive through email.

An alert from Nixle is an ongoing threat, while an advisory is after the fact, Trevis said.

“If there was a real, real, active shooter, like on campus, you would be getting these advisories very quickly, these alerts would come out over the telephones that are in the office and in the classrooms, some of them will come out of the blue poles,” Trevis said. “You’ll notice that some of the blue poles, not all of them, have speakers on top, so we try various ways of notifying people.”

To receive information about any ongoing situations at El Camino College, text ECCPD to 888-777