Alert Carolina message not sent for East Rosemary Street bank robbery

Following an armed robbery of PNC Bank on East Rosemary Street Tuesday afternoon, the University did not send an Alert Carolina message to students via text or email.

Randy Young, spokesperson for the Department of Public Safety, said he would not speak directly about the incident on Tuesday, but there are reasons for alerts not being sent out.

“We may choose not to put an alert out if, number one, it doesn’t specifically impact the campus community — if it’s not a verifiable, imminent threat to the campus community. Or if we have trouble verifying or cannot verify whether or not putting that information out would impede other agencies ability to process information or mitigate a threat,” Young said.

“It could be that we have information that allows us some perspective on whether or not a threat has left the area or in another direction.”

Young said the University has three tiers of alert. The first tier is the highest level of alert that includes campus sirens. The second is considered a timely warning, and the third is an informational message. Young said no two situations are alike.

“There are a lot of mitigating factors in any scenario that may affect the way we put information out or choose to put information out,” Young said.

Young said the Chapel Hill Police Department is aware of DPS’s Clery requirements — which define the area around UNC that the University has to report crimes about — and complies accordingly.

Chapel Hill Chief of Police Chris Blue said the communication between the police department and DPS is different depending upon the situation.

Blue said their watch commander communicated with UNC staff soon after the robbery occurred Tuesday. He said they use the radio for fast communication.

“We communicate over a radio together. With our police radios, (they) are interoperable so we communicate in real time,” Blue said. “That’s a matter of normal business for us.”

Chapel Hill police and DPS have daily communication and call upon University officers if they need additional help, Blue said.

“We notify them when there is an incident on campus that might either impact campus one way or another or if we think someone may have fled towards campus or if we think there may be a traffic impact related to our response,” Blue said. “It’s an ongoing communication channel really throughout everyday.”

First-year Nancy Munguia had also not heard about the robbery. She said she would have liked to know about the incident.

“That would have been nice to know about to make sure that you’re safe, making sure you’re safe walking back at night,” she said.

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