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Jun 30, 2009 11:01 pm US/Eastern
I-Team: Students Unaware of Gunmen On FIU Campus
WEST MIAMI-DADE (CBS4 I-TEAM) ―
The
CBS4 I-Team has uncovered the armed robbery of a student inside FIU's Green Library, and the shock students received when they found out they hadn't been notified of the crime.
They were floored when
CBS 4 I-Team Reporter Natalia Zea told them a student was robbed at gunpoint at the campus library early Monday morning.
Veronica Uquire was one of those students.
"I think I'm concered about my safety, a lot," said Uquiere. "That's kind of shocking. I didn't know that."
In fact, none of the students Zea spoke with knew about the armed robbery. They also didn't know that a month and a half ago FIU police arrested a student after finding a semi-automatic weapon and 110 rounds of ammunition in his trunk.
"We had to figure out from you guys that something did actually happen at school instead of the school telling us," complained Uquire.
FIU has had an extensive alert system in place for years, in classrooms, dorms, even through texts and emails. But they didn't send out an alert about either incident. In fact they've never even used the system, except for testing.
Lieutenant Ricardo Torres says he didn't send out an alert about the armed robbery because he was confident the gunmen left the campus, and he says he knew he would catch them. He said, "It was our decision that there was no immediate threat to anyone on campus to the community members, and it was a split-second decision that we made, and I feel we conducted ourselves properly and made the right decision."
Lt. Torres promises to send out an alert when he feels it's necessary.
"An individual who we believe is still on campus and would do harm to any student or faculty staff or member of our community, of course we would activate the emergency system at that time," said Torres.
Still, student Judyne Lubin says she would rather receive numerous alerts, than be kept in the dark when gunmen make their way to campus.
"Small or big we want to know," said Lubin.
FIU Police keep a daily log of all crimes that happen on campus so students can look after the fact to see what's happened. But Zea found out that the online version of that log has not been updated since late May. Lt. Torres says if students are worried, they should stop by the police station.
To learn more about FIU's alert system click here: http://www.fiuoem.com/emman/escallationchart.htm
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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