UK Alert and police should have informed students of gunman

Since its inception, criticisms of the UK Alert system have been rampant. Sure, there were kinks to work out at first, as with any kind of technology, but it seemed as if this semester things were finally starting to run smoothly. That is, until Tuesday night.

When an armed gunman robbed The Pita Pit on South Limestone around 11:30 p.m., no UK Alert was issued, even though the man had not been found. He reportedly fled in the direction of The Paddock, which is right across the street from north campus dorms and many bars and restaurants frequented by UK students.

Kernel reporters interviewed employees of all open businesses in the area and the desk workers at the five occupied dorms on North Campus between the hours of 1:30 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. Only the employees at Tolly Ho had heard any mention of the robbery because police had informed them. The desk workers were night shift, which came on at midnight. However, they all said they had not heard of the incident. The residents of the dorms did not find out until 2:45 a.m. when UK Police were posting Campus Crime Bulletins in the lobbies.

This is inexcusable. Even though The Pita Pit is technically located off campus, the gunman was a road’s-width away from campus boundaries and even closer to those students who may have been having a meal at Jimmy John’s or enjoying a drink at Two Keys Tavern. A UK Alert could have informed students who were out to use caution.

The UK Office of Emergency Management has said many times that UK Alerts are issued on a case-by-case basis and if there is an imminent threat to students. Is a man with a revolver roaming around areas near campus not a threat to students’ safety?

Though UK Police are not understaffed, they do not have a sufficient number of officers to let everyone on campus know of an incident, but they had officers patrolling campus on foot and in squad cars. UK Police Sgt. James Haubenreich even stopped by the Kernel around midnight to inform those still working of the robbery.

One would think those in the area should have been the first informed. While it’s impossible to ask such a task of the police, a simple push of the button, as emergency management puts it, could have informed thousands in a few seconds. Not only would it have benefited the students’ safety, but if those students were aware of an on-going incident, some may have been able to be on the lookout to report suspicious behavior to tip off police.

It is understood that the university and Office of Emergency Management don’t want to cry wolf with an overwhelming amount of UK Alerts, but even by their own definition of an ongoing incident, this one was worth it.

And it is always better to be safe than sorry.