Alert Carolina sees major changes

University officials are hoping revisions to the Alert Carolina emergency response system will restore students’ trust in campus safety.

The new emergency notification plan, which was released Thursday, will be split up into three alert categories, said Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Winston Crisp.

The official alerts will be issued for the categories of emergency warnings, timely warnings and informational messages.

“Some of the trust issues students have expressed have been from lack of clarity and people not being sure what to expect,” Crisp said.

Emergency warnings, such as the presence of an armed person on campus, will trigger an alarm, text message and email notification.

Student representatives expressed a need for an additional category for dangerous situations that are non-life-threatening said Jeff McCracken, chief of campus police.

Students will be alerted of events under this category by text message and email, so long as these notifications don’t compromise police efforts, McCracken said.

“There is information we just can’t talk about when we’re investigating — for example, the situation in Morrison last year,” he said.

On April 4, five students were robbed at gunpoint in a room in Morrison Residence Hall. No alert was issued as campus police pursued a suspect, prompting criticism from some students.

“It would be great if people could just trust us all the time but we know that doesn’t happen,” McCracken said.

The third alert, or informational message, will notify students of situations that don’t pose a threat to campus.

Katelyn Reighard, chairwoman of the Graduate and Professional Student Federation’s personal safety committee, said student leaders are happy with the changes to the system, and the administration prioritized student needs and requests.

“The differentiation is really concise so people will know how to respond,” she said.

Administrators said the new emergency response system is designed to be a template for other UNC-system schools.

Each campus’ safety plan will be slightly different depending on the systems they already use, McCracken said.

Crisp said the new system will speed up police response time at UNC, but officials will still take time to factually report an event.

“One of the challenges out there is this time issue between folks on the scene who might be tweeting or having their phones out, and then it’s out there,” Crisp said.

“We’re trying to get good solid, information as soon as we can, but there’s no way around that gap in today’s world.”

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