Not intended to frighten.

The vice president of the University of Minnesota just sent out an email:

Yesterday, the University of Minnesota Police Department issued a Public Safety Alert regarding a shooting that occurred just off campus. This Public Safety Alert was the fourth issued in just over a week, and it’s unfortunate that this spate of crimes has occurred as students are returning to campus and the University community is preparing for the 2009-10 academic year.
The alerts are sent out because the University of Minnesota is committed to the safety of our students, faculty, and staff, and in compliance with the federal Clery Act.
Alerts are not intended to alarm or frighten anyone.

Really? Let’s see, here are some gems from the University of Minnesota’s public safety department:

On Thursday we had a murder:

On Thursday, September 3, a juvenile male was shot near the intersection of 27th Avenue SE and Delaware Avenue SE — just outside the ProfileCenter. The victim was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center were he later died. The victim was not affiliated with the University of Minnesota and the shooting did not occur on campus. However, we’re issuing this Alert because the crime occurred just off campus.

And a mugging:

Today, September 3 at 2:40 a.m., a University of Minnesota student was the victim of an off-campus armed robbery in the 1200 block of 5th St SE in the City of Minneapolis. The suspect approached the victim, displayed a handgun and demanded money. The suspect took the victim’s purse and fled.

On Monday there was a rape:

The University of Minnesota Police Department is asking for the public’s help in collecting information about a sexual assault.
The victim, who is not affiliated with the University of Minnesota, attended the Kid Rock concert at the Minnesota State Fair on Saturday night and became extremely intoxicated. After the concert, the victim blacked out at various points; however, she remembers waking up in a grassy area and seeing a white male with short brown hair above her. In addition, she later remembers waking up in the stairwell of a parking ramp where two unknown females offered assistance and drove her home. She realized the next morning she had been sexually assaulted, received medical treatment, and reported the assault to the State Fair Police.
While it’s not clear if the attack took place on the State Fair grounds, on University property, or elsewhere, U of M Police are investigating because the Gortner Avenue Parking Ramp is most likely the parking ramp where the victim may have been discovered.

And another rape/sexual-assault the Friday before that:

Minneapolis police are asking for the public’s help in identifying a suspect in a sexual assault that occurred in an apartment building near the University of Minnesota. We are sharing this request with our campus community.
The victim–a 23-year-old University student–told police that the suspect followed her early Saturday into the secure building on the 1700 block of Elm Street SE.

The University of Minnesota has a total enrollment of about 51,140. It’s near downtown. Lower income housing abuts campus.
If the university is going to insist on emailing all 51,140 students for every rape, murder, and robbery that happens in the downtown area or at the state fair – whether or not a student is involved – then they are going to scare us.

Saying someone got shot, raped, robbed or whatever near campus is going to make people feel unsafe because most students – especially freshman (and 1Ls) are not going to pause and remember that campus is huge, and all of downtown is “near campus.”

I think the campus safety alerts should be used sparingly – ie, four times in one week is excessive – and only for real campus safety concerns. There’s a difference between, say, last year’s bicycle groper and shooting threat, and a drunk non-student getting raped at an unknown location or a teenager who got shot as part of a fight.

Maybe these alerts are amazingly effective and I’m just unaware of how useful they are. But I suspect that the alerts probably do more harm than good.