I'm sure by this point, you've all heard about this. The blood rushes in my body and my heart beats faster as soon as I read the instant message from a friend saying "there was a shooting tonight, there are 10 cops outside of my dorm." The police stormed through Atherton Hall to search for a murderer on the loose. Especially after Virginia Tech, students are frantic about a shooting here at Penn State which hopefully will not happen. Click here to read the full article from the Collegian.
If there was some sort of shooting rampage on campus tonight, I would have been very, very lucky. Although I was not in Atherton Hall, I was in Simmons, which is right across the street (Shortlidge) and left right before I heard about the whole deal.
Although this blog post is very, very Penn State related, how can I relate this to technology in order to make blog post count? Well, honestly the process of tracking down criminals these days is far more advanced than it used to be, thanks to TECHNOLOGY. Communications devices, navigational devices, vehicles, weapons, and security devices can help capture criminals faster than back in the day. The actual equipment of police officers has improved over time, but really has not made that much of an impact. What equipment the police have, criminals can get hands on. One of the biggest changes in technology that has improved security are security cameras.
Interviewing people can be tedious. But recorded evidence on tape is unbreakable. More importantly, webcams have improved security greatly by providing live-feed for security officers. Although in this case, the suspect was not spotted on a webcam, he would be busted by now if he was.
Comments (7)
I gotta say that I was disappointed with Penn State's use of technology in this situation, even though it turned out to be nothing. Instead of getting a txt detailing a possible incident at the time it was happening, I got an email well after any possible danger had passed. This is terrible. In days after Va. Tech, we must get word out quicker. In the time that it takes to check to see if something is fact, it may be too late. PSU was too lax in this situation. Good thing that it was nothing, but PSU should take this opportunity to learn from it.
Posted by D. J. Lingelbach | December 14, 2007 10:20 AM
Posted on December 14, 2007 10:20
OMG. I heard about this last night and was terrified to leave East Halls. I texted all of my friends, tutors, and teachers. Everyone thought it was a joke. The story I heard was that someone shot someone on North Atherton and in the HUB. And by the time my friends on the West Side of campus heard the story it had changed. He heard that 3 people had been shot in Starbucks, one in the Hub, sand two in the Honors dorms. It is crazy how stories get mixed up. If it hadn't been cleaed up, who know what the story would have been today.
Posted by Jamilah Matthews | December 14, 2007 10:55 AM
Posted on December 14, 2007 10:55
Yeah, as a resident of Atherton Hall, last night was very interesting to say the least. I was studying in the lobby when I saw four policemen enter the building. One of them had a rather large gun. No RA or anyone of authority told me what was going on. I found out when I received the email from Mr. Hunt. This whole situation was so poorly handled that it is embarassing.
Posted by Steven Dodge | December 14, 2007 3:05 PM
Posted on December 14, 2007 15:05
It was pretty exciting when police officers were coming down the hallways, though the fact that absolutely nothing was explained to us didn't help the rumor situation at ALL. Text messaging is the devil. As if gossip wasn't bad enough, now it's filtered through OMG R U OK!?!? No wonder everything got blown out of proportion.
Posted by Abby Assetto | December 14, 2007 3:20 PM
Posted on December 14, 2007 15:20
While information technology can be great for facilitating the rapid spread of potentially life-saving information, as seen last night, it can also be used to spread false information that does nothing but incite fear. I'm not sure who started the rumors, but, everyone who passed them on without confirming their validity certainly didn't help the inherent fear of the situation.
And Penn State said it didn't activate the PSUTXT system as there was no inherent danger to students. Had there been any real danger, the system would have been activated.
This is actually why, despite me being at Atherton at the time, I didn't get too concerned.
Posted by Garrett Miller | December 14, 2007 7:19 PM
Posted on December 14, 2007 19:19
Well, in retrospect, I suppose there could have been a danger to students, but, you have to be careful not to create unnecessary fear and panic.
The police themselves stormed Atherton on nothing more than a rumor.
I guess misinformation sometimes can be more dangerous than none at all.
Posted by Garrett Miller | December 14, 2007 7:20 PM
Posted on December 14, 2007 19:20
I caught ear of it too thursday night from my girlfriend who was so worried me leaving at 2 am that night that she wanted to give me her cell phone because mine died. HAHA,but yea, that long walk from South Halls to West Halls I spent looking everywhere someone could be hiding waiting for someone to walk by and attack. And once I reached my dorm, I looked around for anything, and then quickly went inside. Not a good way to go to sleep when you are thinking of how close you were to death!
Posted by Eric Herrera | December 15, 2007 7:32 AM
Posted on December 15, 2007 07:32