Concerns and praise were shared by students in Texas Tech staff’s handling of emergency situations after a threatening message was found on campus following an erroneous TechAlert message on Oct. 4.
A threatening message written on a bathroom wall in Texas Tech’s Holden Hall was discovered hours after the erroneous TechAlert message prompted a campus-wide evacuation.
“I’m going to shoot up the school 10/5/18 11:00 AM,” the message reads.
Photo Credit: The Daily Toreador
Just before 8 a.m. on Oct. 5, an emergency alert from the university issued a statement, which reported officials became aware of the threat the night before. Texas Tech police reportedly led an overnight investigation in which the credibility of the threat was assessed, a Texas Tech news release states.
“TTPD has enhanced security presence on campus and continue to operate under a heightened alert,” the release states. “We will keep the university community apprised of any developments. The university will continue normal operations.” A sweep of the building was conducted in an effort to locate any other messages or evidence, according to the university’s statement.
Photo Credit: Jason Delacruz, The Hub@TTU
Hours later, just before 2:30 p.m., Texas Tech police took to Twitter with an update on the situation.
“On October 5, 2018 at 11: 34 am,” the statement reads, “Texas Tech officers detained a suspicious person on the sidewalk, west side of Holden Hall. After interviewing the person, it was determined the person was not a threat to the campus community and the person was released. There have not been any reports to the police department of any disturbances in any of the buildings at Texas Tech University.”
Asked about the threat, student Connor Beique said he felt the person behind the message was attempting to induce a response from students and staff.
“I think Texas Tech did exactly what it should do and that’s increase security, but everything should precede as normal,” Beique said.
Photo Credit: Jason Delacruz, The Hub@TTU
Student Grace Crawford said the extra policing helped her feel safe. As she walked to Holden Hall, she said she noticed two police officers in a neighboring parking lot and staff walked through the building checking and shutting doors.
Associate Dean in the College of Arts and Science spoke with The Hub@TTU reporters about the seriousness behind the situation.
“We take threats very seriously,” he said. “We can’t let them shutdown our lives, but we can be vigilant, and we can be observant.”
Classes continued the following day, a university news release states, and no further evidence was found; however, eight hours prior to the threat, a false TechAlert prompted people to leave campus as it instructed an immediate evacuation of the campus.
“Immediately evacuate all buildings and move to an off-campus location with personal belongings,” the statement read. “Buses will be rerouted.” Ten minutes after the initial message calling for the campus evacuation, another message was released on behalf of the Texas Tech Police Department stating an evacuation was not necessary, while asking recipients to disregard the first TechAlert message.
While some people received both messages, others only received half.
Chris Cook, the Managing Director of the office of Communications and Marketing at Texas Tech, said the alert was mistakenly sent during a training exercise.
“We give training regularly with dispatchers and during that training someone pushed the wrong button,” Cook said. “There are precautions within the program that were obviously compromised.”
Some people received texts and emails at different times, which caused confusion and congestion on campus. Traffic was backed up, while people filed out of buildings as they were trying to make their way off of campus.
Although this caused some concern amongst students and faculty, Cook said the timing of the alerts was off because the second alert was canceled in the process of delivering to the list of all eraider accounts. This was not due to a glitch within the alert system even though it led to some people only receiving one alert.
“No issue, it was deleted or canceled in the middle of delivery so some people got it and some people didn’t, that’s the reason,” Cook said.
Photo Credit: Jason Delacruz, The Hub@TTU
Hours after the TechAlert message was sent, an email containing a letter from Texas Tech President Lawrence Schovanec was released, addressing the TechAlert situation.
The statement reads: “I convened a meeting this morning to review the sequence of events with all related personnel involved in these procedures. We discussed the policies and protocol regarding the training and use of the system to gain an understanding of how this happened. We will continue to thoroughly review and improve training practices to ensure this mistake is never repeated. The safety and security of the campus and surrounding communities are our top priorities. In addition to enhanced procedures and protocols that we have implemented, we will continue to regularly review all of our safety and security measures.”
During the meeting, Schovanec states personnel also discussed various modes of communication.
Photo Credit: Lawrence Schovanec, Twitter
With the message coming a few days shy of the one-year anniversary of the Officer East shooting on the Texas Tech campus, some students said they felt on edge following the two unrelated incidents; however, those who spoke with Hub reporter said the increase in police presence has helped them feel safer.
Student Thomas Kirkscey said Texas Tech police are professional, and they work well with the Lubbock Police Department to create a safe environment for students.
“I think that the tech police force is doing a good job,” he said. “If they keep it up and continue to investigate the threat as they do, then there will be no problem.”
Cook said since the shooting, the university began working on more surveillance on campus that included cameras and extra blue phones for emergency situations.
In response to the incident on Thursday, Cook said the university is working to make sure this type of mistake doesn’t happen again. The President convened a meeting to discuss procedures in relation to emergency responses.
“We are going to make sure that that does not happen again, one time is enough,” Cook said. “So there is going to be an even more intense effort to put policies and procedures in place- we already have some in place to even further enhance those and strengthen those to insure that that does not happen. We will continue ongoing training, no doubt.”
As Schovanec stated, Cook said the university is working toward enhancing and improving emergency procedure in an effort to ensure a smooth transition.
In order to assure all students get alerts, Cook encourages students to go onto emergency.ttu.edu and make sure the number is current.
Along with that, there are four different contact numbers to input for each student, some of which can be family members. This can help information spread quicker through the student population.
For more information on how to register for TechAlert or to view your campus building’s evacuation plan, visit http://www.depts.ttu.edu/communications/emergency/.
Editor’s Note: Several Hub@TTU staff members contributed to this article: Jason Delacruz, Anna Holland, and Lucinda Holt.
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