ATHENS, Ga. — Parents and students at the University of Georgia are wondering why the school didn't use their emergency response system following the death of Laken Riley.
“I have a daughter on campus who’s very close in age, and it could have just as easily been my daughter,” said UGA parent Rochelle Willis.
Willis said on Feb. 22, when news came out that an Augusta University nursing student was killed on the UGA campus, she was shocked not only at the news but also at how she found out.
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“The school has an emergency response system, and they encourage everyone at orientation, parents and students, to sign up," Willis said, adding, "They tested the system the week before the murder, but when the murder happened, they didn’t use the system."
Looking at UGA's social media, a post stated that the alert system would be tested on Feb. 7, and a follow-up post asked people to share how their recent test went.
Instead of finding out about Riley's death through the system, Willis said her daughter found out in an email.
"They had an emergency system and could have let all the students know immediately that there was a murder and there was a suspect on the loose,” Willis said.
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In a statement, school officials confirmed they sent several email notifications to students and staff but did not send an alert.
"The University of Georgia Police Department distributed the following Timely Warning notifications to the university community on February 22 and 23. All UGA students, faculty, and staff receive these notifications automatically through their UGA email accounts, and they were also distributed via UGA social media."
The statement went on to say,
“Parents who want to receive Timely Warnings can ask their student to log into their UGA Alert account and add their parent’s email address to their profile.”
“We were all very confused at that time. Initially, that email was sent out, and it just all left us wondering what was going on on campus,” said UGA student Grant Bennett.
School officials have since announced the allocation of $7.3 million to enhance campus security, including a blue light call box emergency system across the 760-acre campus.
“Definitely, the inclusion of a blue box on campus would be great because obviously, just in case for whatever reason you don’t have your phone, that way there’s something on campus that you can get to for help."