Friday, February 3, 2012

Police: Alert not needed for incident

By on March 5, 2008

The UGAAlert system was not used Monday night after a shooting near campus because the incident was not a University-wide threat, officials said.

“The system was not utilized because it was not a campus-wide, life-threatening situation,” said Steve Harris, interim director of the Office of Security Preparedness. “Not that a shooter is not life threatening, but police had contained the situation.”

UGAAlert is an emergency notification system that sends out text messages, e-mails and calls to its registered users when triggered by administrators.

Harris said the system annually costs the University $2 per user, and approximately 45,000 students, faculty and staff are signed up. In September, Vice President for External Affairs Tim Burgess reported that of the 11,474 registered, about 7,300 are students.

At 7:12 p.m. Athens-Clarke County Police responded to the shooting of a 19-year-old man on Rockspring Street, according to the police report. The suspect ran near Brumby Hall before heading toward Milledge Avenue, and was arrested by University Police.

University Police Chief Jimmy Williamson sent an e-mail using the Archnews listserv Monday night.

“The e-mail was put out so that the whole campus would have follow-up and accurate information because rumors were beginning to circulate,” Williamson said Tuesday.

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