Editors of Oakland University's student newspaper have harsh words for campus police after the force sent a "shots fired" alert that was a false alarm. "Someone screwed up," an unsigned editorial says.
This chilling campus-wide phone message came via automated calls around 1 p.m. Tuesday: “The Oakland University Police Department has received reports of shots fired on campus. The suspect is currently at large and the campus is on lockdown.”
That caused "sheer panic," the student newspaper says under the headline "Crying wolf." "We heard reports of classes going on lockdown and saw students’ reactions on social media websites. We called our parents to inform them we were still alive."
University police say the pre-recorded voicemail was automatically attached to a text message sent by an outsourced company, but editors of The Oakland Post aren't satisfied:
While we understand mistakes -- we make them too -- one of this magnitude should not have happened. . . .
We’ve been told steps have been taken to make sure the mistake is not repeated, but that statement seems lacking, frankly. Don’t try to cover it up. Be transparent. . . .
The Oakland Post finds it appalling that it took university officials 24 minutes to release a corrected message to campus phones. So much can happen in that brief span of time. Had the original message been true, 24 minutes could have created unprecedented chaos campus-wide.
