The Facts:

The SECU on Hillsborough Street was robbed Tuesday morning. The armed suspect fled on foot near campus. The University sent a WolfAlert to notify the campus community of the incident.

Our Opinion:

The WolfAlert system should have updated the campus community later in the day as well, but the system worked in a relatively effective manner, warning students, faculty and staff of the present danger.

WolfAlert, the campus’ emergency notification system, was put to the test Tuesday when an armed suspect robbed the State Employees Credit Union on Hillsborough Street and fled on foot near the University.

The suspect, who is still at large, was described as being six-feet tall and stocky with

a dark complexion. He was last seen wearing a black Nike hooded sweatshirt, light-wash blue jeans and black shoes.

In the case of a real and pertinent campus threat, such as the robbery, the University uses its WolfAlert messaging system to notify the campus community through text messages and email, among other means.

When the University ran a test of the WolfAlert system last year, the system did not

perform effectively with some students receiving text messages and e-mails hours after

the supposed test. It was an unacceptable performance and the Office of Environmental Health & Safety, which oversees the program, pledged to improve the effectiveness of the message relays.

When the SECU was robbed at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, the University came through in the clutch. Within minutes of the incident, WolfAlert was activated to notify faculty, students and staff of the present danger. The WolfAlert text messages were delivered about noon

with most students indicating receipt in the 15-minute block around that time.

Soon after, just before 12:30 p.m., Campus Police broadcast an e-mail providing more detailed information of the event. Within an hour of the robbery, the majority of the campus community had been contacted about the danger or, at the very least, was aware of the situation.

Mass-broadcast systems will always be susceptible to criticism, and in hind sight the University should have sent out another message later on in the day with updates on the situation.

Additionally, the message could have gotten out a few minutes faster. WRAL had the

nformation posted on its Web site at 11:58 p.m. A couple minutes might not sound like much — but had the robber wrecked havoc on campus, a few minutes can be the difference between life and death.

All in all, though, the system effectively notified students and was rather successful. The kinks seem to have been ironed out.