Despite Tuesday night’s armed robberies, one on Avent Ferry Road and one on Centennial Campus, the University did not send out a text messaging alert.

“We only use the text messaging system when there is an immediate and ongoing threat,” David Rainer, associate vice chancellor for environmental health and public safety, said. “We would not only use the text messaging system but the audible warning and alert [system] also.”

According to Rainer, the crimes did not meet the requirement to send out these alerts.

“Although it was extremely serious, the individuals were seen running off of campus and away from campus,” he said. “It didn’t meet the threshold of continuous and ongoing threat.”

But Campus Police did send out a crime alert by e-mail to students, faculty and staff.

“The text messaging is handled through News Services,” Capt. Jon Barnwell of Campus Police said. “The police department has the authority to send out a crime alert.”

According to Barnwell, the police decide to send out crime alerts if they meet certain criteria — an ongoing threat to the campus community or a crime that was committed on adjacent property which could present a hazard to the campus community.

Rainer said the University is not planning to send out another test emergency text message any time this semester and test the system again, unlike with the siren system.

“The only time we will test the text messaging system is at the beginning of the semester when we try to enroll all the new freshmen,” he said.

Although Rainer did say out of 12,000 text messages, only 10,000 were sent during the test, he was confident that the problem was solved.

“There was one vendor that didn’t deliver most of their messages, but we talked to them and believe the problem is being corrected,” he said.

Students with Sprint should now be able to receive the text messages next go-around.

The vast majority of the messages, Rainer said, were sent in a timely manner.

The University asked those who received the messages to fill out a survey, detailing their experiences.

“The survey was primarily intended to determine who the carriers were and what times the messages were delivered,” Rainer said.

Some people provided comments, according to Rainer, and a lot of them were positive but most were just technical about who each person’s carrier was and how long it took the person to receive the message.

Rainer said the messages were sent in about 16 minutes from the original time the system sent out the test.

Although the messages may not be sent out solely without also activating the WolfAlert audible voice and siren system, Barnwell said Campus Police will continue to send out alerts by e-mail when necessary.

“[They would be sent] if there was a crime where an armed robbery takes place and there’s not an immediate apprehension to the criminal … which could create a potential threat for another student,” he said.

The University also did not activate the text messaging system after receiving a phone call bomb threat to the Bell Tower two weeks ago.