2008 Woodie Awards
Public Safety should be more selective with alerts
Issue date: 11/19/07 Section: Op-Ed
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While I understand that Public Safety's safety alerts are meant to inform us about what is going on around campus, it is really frightening to receive a new alert almost everyday. I am quite sure the purpose of these alerts is to make students feel secure, but I don't really feel all that safe.
Recently, I have received four safety alerts within five days. This is not including the alerts about "police activity" at Main Hall. Receiving so many alerts in such a short time really scares me, especially because it seemed as though a few of the alerts were describing the same person who was committing the crimes. I know that crimes happen everywhere, but I did not realize that so many crimes occurred near this campus.
The alerts students received about the police activity also worried me quite a bit. Why weren't we told why there was police activity? And why were the alerts sent out about an hour or so after the threat was received? I'm glad we were warned that something was occuring, but I think we should have been told what exactly was going on while it was happening, not the next day.
I was worried that something really bad was going on. When I found out it was a bomb threat (which I heard only from students), I was kind of relieved. I'm not saying we shouldn't be worried about a bomb threat, but they very rarely turn out to be real threats. I really think that students should also be told what is going on, not just that something is taking place.
I greatly appreciate Public Safety's attempts to keep the student body feeling safe and informed, but I think they need to pick and choose what they tell us. They need to inform us when something threatening is happening (such as the bomb threat in Main Hall), but maybe they can leave out some safety alerts, like the ones that are basically repeats of the day before. That could possibly help increase feelings of safety around campus.
Recently, I have received four safety alerts within five days. This is not including the alerts about "police activity" at Main Hall. Receiving so many alerts in such a short time really scares me, especially because it seemed as though a few of the alerts were describing the same person who was committing the crimes. I know that crimes happen everywhere, but I did not realize that so many crimes occurred near this campus.
The alerts students received about the police activity also worried me quite a bit. Why weren't we told why there was police activity? And why were the alerts sent out about an hour or so after the threat was received? I'm glad we were warned that something was occuring, but I think we should have been told what exactly was going on while it was happening, not the next day.
I was worried that something really bad was going on. When I found out it was a bomb threat (which I heard only from students), I was kind of relieved. I'm not saying we shouldn't be worried about a bomb threat, but they very rarely turn out to be real threats. I really think that students should also be told what is going on, not just that something is taking place.
I greatly appreciate Public Safety's attempts to keep the student body feeling safe and informed, but I think they need to pick and choose what they tell us. They need to inform us when something threatening is happening (such as the bomb threat in Main Hall), but maybe they can leave out some safety alerts, like the ones that are basically repeats of the day before. That could possibly help increase feelings of safety around campus.
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