UNC officials have completed a review of the Alert Carolina system after a failure in alerting the campus of two armed robberies last week.
Carolina Chancellor Carol Folt called the communication breakdown “unacceptable” in an informational message sent out to the UNC campus, on Friday.
The message was a follow up after the Alert Carolina messaging system was put through a review because it failed to quickly alert the campus community of two armed robberies last Wednesday.
READ MORE: Alert Carolina Late to Alarm Students of 2 Armed Robberies
UNC says part of the notification system worked as planned when the robberies were reported just before 11 o’clock. All of the six sirens sounded after being activated by the Department of Public Safety and broadcasted short pre-recorded voice messages about the initial threat and the “all clear” message that was to come. The statement says officers also quickly secured the crime scene and set up a perimeter in close coordination with Chapel Hill police.
But the remainder of the alert system failed; a text message to registered cell phones, an e-mail, and posts on the official university social media platforms were all delayed by an estimated 45 minutes, which caused some confusion as to the seriousness of the alert sirens.
A review of the system found two human errors, compounded with a computer glitch, caused the problem. The human errors have not been specified by Carolina at this time.
University officials say they are working to refine and improve the Alert Carolina system in order to maintain the safety of individuals on and around campus.
The system will be tested on August 26 as part of the annual fall siren test.
READ MORE: Chapel Hill, Durham Police Team Up to Solve Recent Armed Robbery Cases
Authorities with UNC, Chapel Hill, and Duke are still working to identify suspects in armed robbery cases with similar circumstances that have occurred across both campuses and in the town.
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