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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

IUPD: IU Notify alert error was notification system's 1st hiccup

An IU Notify alert sent early Thursday morning contained the notification system’s first error, IU police said.

The system sends emails, texts and makes phone calls to IU faculty, staff and students in emergencies. Family members can also add their contact information to the system.

Thursday morning, IU Police Department officials sent three messages concerning an armed robbery at a Circle K gas station located at 4405 E. Third St.

One of the email message subjects read: “DANGEROUS SITUATION - INSERT LOCATION” at about 2:10 a.m.

IU Police Department Lt. Craig Munroe said this is the first time he has seen an error occur in an alert.

“That was human error,“ he said. “When the individual was doing it other things were also ?going on. This is the first time I’ve ever noticed that it’s happened.”

IU-Bloomington’s official Twitter account also released a tweet Thursday morning reading, “IU Bloomington Alert: A dangerous situation is occurring near INSERT LOCATION. Stay away from the area.”

The tweet was subsequently deleted.

Munroe explained IUPD dispatchers use a template to create the alerts.

Similarly colored text can make it difficult to fill in, he said.

“Under stress it’s very easy to do,” Munroe said. “I think the fact that there’s only been one error says a lot about the people who do this.” ?

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