I teach at USC and am extremely concerned about the armed robbery that took place on the 1800 block of Greene Street around 10 p.m. on Sept. 18.
I feel strongly that we should have received a Carolina Alert following this incident.
According to Capt. Eric Grabski of the USC Police Department, alerts are only issued when there is an immediate threat to campus and immediate action needs to be taken. The justification for not sending the alert was because "the respondents decided that the suspects fled away from campus." This makes no sense.
First, if the suspects have not been apprehended, they are still a threat. Second, I cannot think of any direction in which the suspects could be traveling that would not be in or near USC. Further, they could travel back toward campus even if they initially seemed to be traveling away from the area. Third, the decision to issue (or not issue) a Carolina Alert should not be determined by the respondents and where they believed the suspects were headed.
I feel strongly that any time a violent crime is reported on or near campus, a Carolina Alert should be issued. The 1800 block of Greene Street is about as close as you can get to campus. Many students live in the apartments along both sides of Greene Street. If necessary, the USC police could opt for two levels of alert, although I believe this situation called for an alert to be issued because there was an immediate threat to campus and the immediate action that should have been taken was at least to let others in the vicinity know that the armed robbery had taken place and to be aware or leave that area.
These students were walking in a group, as they are advised. It was only 10 p.m . I understand the university cannot police and protect everyone, but we should all certainly be made aware of a dangerous situation when it occurs so we can do our best to protect ourselves.