Martin Hall has security alert
Officer Jason Scott of the University of Indianapolis Police Department was dispatched to Martin Hall on Wednesday, Oct. 26, on a report of a theft.
According to the police report, Scott arrived on the scene at approximately 4:45 p.m. and was met by a woman who reported the incident. The woman described an unidentified black male with unkempt hair wearing a lime green, button-up shirt and blue jeans. The man was as carrying a black duffel bag.
The woman reported that the man approached her and inquired about speaking with one of the professors. She directed the man to a building. When she returned to her office, she noticed the same man waiting on the elevator. As she was preparing to leave for the day, she saw a set of keys next to her purse. She realized that several items were missing from her purse.
The woman gave the keys to Scott. According to the police report, the keys were later discovered to belong to a car in one of the parking lots that had been reported stolen out of Cincinnati, Ohio. Scott alerted the proper personnel to send out the Watchdog warning.
Watchdog released the warning at around 6 p.m. It gave a description of the suspect and listed the crime. The warning also urged everyone to call the police if there were any sightings and to be on alert.
“In the past, we have gotten some complaints that it was taking too long for [students, faculty, staff and parents] to get the messages. This time, it was almost instantaneous,” said Kory Vitangeli, associate vice president for student affairs and dean of students.
Vitangeli credits the timelier messages to the new alert system that had been put into place at the beginning of the academic year. Prior to this year, the university had used Blackboard to release warnings. The new system is run by Rave Communications and now includes text messages in addition to emails and phone calls.
“We know that’s how most people communicate,” Vitangeli said.
The new system has not gone unnoticed by students. Nursing major Bekah Munger was surprised by the thoroughness of the messages.
“I got the text, voice mail and email. They even left a voice mail for my parents, and when they heard it, they called me,” Munger said.
The Watchdog alert was short, especially the text message, and gave only the basic information to put the students on alert. This was not only because of the character limit, but also from a desire to ensure that everyone read or listened to the message.
“People aren’t going to listen to a 10 minute voice mail message or read a long email. We try to make it as short as possible but have accurate information,” Vitangeli said.
A search of the campus buildings and parking lots followed the release of the warnings. The search was conducted by the campus police with assistance from units of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.
The man was not found and police department are still investigating the incident. If the man had been found, there would have been a follow-up message from Watchdog to alert the students. Vitangeli sent out a message the next day to give more explanation of the original warning.
This follow-up included information on an additional reported theft that was not confirmed to be related. The update also stressed the importance of vigilance in regard to personal possessions and safety.
“We always want to try and get out safety information,” Vitangeli said. “That’s the whole goal of this, for people to be watching out for others, to not leave things lying out and if they see something suspicious to let the police know. That’s the only way we can all work together to keep the campus safe.”
