Editorial: Sexual assault merited text message alert

By: Editorial Board

Posted: 9/8/08

News of Saturday's sexual assault spread through campus via an e-mail alert that was sent more than 15 hours after the assault occurred. There wasn't any type of notification that was sent out to the student body close to the time that the assault was reported. It occurred on a Saturday night at a time when numerous students were traipsing back to their dorms from various parties and nobody was notified of the incident.

This occurrence would have been an ideal time to send out a text message alert. The system, which was implemented over the summer of 2007, could have alerted the student body to any possible danger in the area. The suspect allegedly assaulted the victim with a weapon. A primary reason for the alert system is to protect students from someone with a weapon, yet no alert was sent out and students continued to wander the campus ignorant to any possible danger.

Major Ronald Blicher of the UConn police said the incident was an "inappropriate use of the service" under the pretenses that "it was a crime alert, not an emergency alert."

On the contrary, this incident is an ideal time for the alert system. The service was originally started because of the Virginia Tech tragedy, which concerned someone on a college campus using a weapon to assault others. The university is wrong for not alerting the students to possible danger.

The text message alert system was used last year because there was a hole in the ice, yet nobody complained that his or her friends or roommates were missing. That situation was not necessarily of immediate concern, whereas an armed assault suspect is certainly a legitimate concern - one that should be dealt with as soon as possible.

Students should try to travel in groups or at least with one other person, but walking alone is sometimes unavoidable. In an article in the Hartford Courant, UConn police said they would patrol areas that are considered more remote and more susceptible to crime in the future. But if that proves futile, the text message alert can provide students with information that they need. It is the police's job to protect the student body. If they are unable to do so by patrolling unsafe areas, they should have a backup. The text message alert system is the perfect back up plan. The purpose of it is to alert students to any immediate dangers and that is exactly what it should be used for.