By SUSAN JONES
While Pitt’s Emergency Notification System did experience some technical issues on April 10 during a hoax active shooter incident at Hillman Library, Pitt Police Chief James Loftus said at a news conference on April 11 that it was ultimately his decision to delay sending an emergency notice out to the University community.
The first call about a possible shooting at the library came in to Pittsburgh Police at 11:10 p.m., followed quickly by a second and third call from different phone numbers. Pitt Police were on scene almost immediately, but it would be 82 minutes before the first emergency notification went out to the Pitt community.
Loftus said Pitt and Pittsburgh police quickly cleared Hillman Library of the couple hundred students and others who were present and determined there was no shooter. But just as that was happening, another call came in from students at Mervis Hall who thought there was someone suspicious in that building.
About the time the scene was clearing at Hillman, Loftus said they were preparing to put out an emergency notification message that the situation had been resolved. “We didn’t do that. We held off on that message,” he said. “It would have been, quite frankly, irresponsible to put that message out not knowing what was going on at Mervis at that time. That was my call. It’s my responsibility.”
But he admits that there should have been some interim messaging “to steer people away from the area … and have that not affect what we do.”
“My regret and my responsibility is that we didn’t get the ENS message out as quickly as I feel we could have and should have,” he said.
Another issue was the first ENS text that went out at 12:37 a.m. was blank. Loftus explained that the error was only in the text message, not in email and voice messages that went out. The text field has space for a short or long message. When they realized the message wouldn’t fit in the short field, it was moved to the long message, but the short message got sent out with just the header “Pitt ENS Alert.”
Ted Fritz, vice chancellor for public safety and emergency management, told Faculty Assembly on April 12 that Pitt IT is “looking at the workflow with the software to see whether there’s ways we can do it more efficient. And they are also looking at the software itself just to make sure that when updates or changes occur to that it’s not impacting the user interface, the dispatchers’ interface, so that it would potentially slow their ability to send out a message.”
Fritz’s message to the Pitt community on April 11 said, “An ENS message is issued by police upon police confirmation of a significant emergency and where its use will not compromise the emergency response. Starting last week, communications specialists are being further trained and tested through exercises. All University members are automatically subscribed to receive ENS messages by email. You are strongly encouraged to sign up for optional text and phone messages as well.”
Senate President Robin Kear said at Faculty Assembly that maybe people shouldn’t be allowed to opt in or out of ENS messaging by text or phone.
Sequence of events
The initial call about a shooter at Hillman came in to the front desk at Pittsburgh Police’s Station No. 1, not a 911 line, at 11:10 p.m., Loftus said. “The particularly troubling thing in this … was there was the sound of either gunshots or simulated gunshots that that officer could hear over the phone,” he said.
There were subsequently two other calls from different numbers reporting an incident at Hillman. City police broadcast an alert over a radio channel shared with Pitt Police at 11:14 p.m., and Pitt Police were on the scene at 11:15 p.m.
As the people inside Hillman were exiting, shots were fired by a Pittsburgh police officer to gain access through one of the doors leading into the library’s ground floor, which has been closed for construction since December.
The shots created even more fear and anxiety for those who were evacuating. A video on social media shows some people jumping over the side of the ramp that now leads from the library onto Forbes Avenue.
Loftus said he could not answer for actions taken by city officers, but he has talked to the Pittsburgh police chief about the actions by city officers. “He knows the inquiries may be coming and maybe they have already.”
Hillman Library was cleared in about 12 minutes, Loftus said. Then around 11:30 p.m., Pittsburgh Police received the legitimate call from students at nearby Mervis Hall. Police were quickly sent there and subsequently found no suspicious activity.
Loftus said he was proud of how Pitt Police worked on the operational side both at the Hillman and Mervis incidents and at the earlier hoax shooter calls at Central Catholic and Oakland Catholic high schools in Oakland.
“Those of you were (at Central Catholic), you probably saw in excess of 100 emergency vehicles,” he said. “The fact that 100 emergency vehicles could get through Oakland, coming from different directions, and not have a catastrophe in and of itself is pretty remarkable. We had great response at Central. We worked through the problem at several different buildings there, as we worked through that problem at a couple of different buildings here last night.”
The hoax calls are all now being investigated by the FBI. Both Pitt and Pittsburgh police are on a task force with the federal agency. FBI Assistant Special Agent In-Charge Scott Argiro, who was at the April 12 news conference, said he can’t comment on the investigation or any potential connections between the recent hoax calls. “But the main reason we’re here today is because we want to show that we’ll throw the full resources of the FBI into this investigation all the way through.”
He said they’ve had recent success prosecuting hoax threats in California and Washington state as interstate threatening communications and using a telecommunication device to commit a felony.
Loftus said, “I guess someone like me could say, ‘Well, gee, that’s a hoax and let’s just treat it that way.’ But these aren’t pranks. These are terroristic phone calls. Nothing less. Because you can see what it’s done to our constituents.
“As you know, these incidents have been occurring across the country,” he said. “The sad thing is, is there an expectation that they’ll stop … as of last night? I don’t know. I don’t think so. … What we’ll do is try to get better each time. We’ll make our response to the incident better. We’ll make our response to our community, our constituents better by way of messaging.”
Chancellor Patrick Gallagher in a message this week said Pitt is revisiting its standard for sharing information. “Normal protocols for emergency messages are designed to be accurate, which can result in delays while information is being validated, often a challenge when responding to an active killer threat. This cautious approach is less effective against a disinformation attack, especially when other communication channels — including social media, news outlets and even word of mouth — are rapidly spreading information (true and false). Sharing information quickly can impact information accuracy, but we also recognize that speed of response matters. We are working to do better on balancing these factors.”
Student response
Loftus praised the actions of the students who were in Hillman when police entered to clear the building. “They did what you would expect them to do. I mean, for me, I might grab my laptop or grab my phone and then evacuate … and people by and large left their stuff where it was and got out.”
Questions have been raised about some emergency exits in Hillman being blocked because of construction on the ground floor and around the building. Two of the exits were on the ground floor and one on the first. Loftus said those exits were clearly marked with signs that they were not to be used as emergency exits because of construction-related safety concerns.
Many worry that the hoax calls will lead to students and others being desensitized to actual emergencies. Loftus assured everyone that the police would continue to respond to all possible threats with the assumption they are real.
Students have been vocal on social media since the incident about their displeasure at the delay in getting an emergency notification. A group called “Do Better, Pitt” is planning a “die-in” for 82 minutes at 2 p.m. today on the Cathedral of Learning lawn to signify the time between when Pitt Police got the call at Hillman and when an emergency notification went out.
Ted Fritz, in an interview with the UTimes, said each situation is different and reminded everyone that the ENS messages are designed to help alleviate emergencies and not to be a news service. But he conceded that the messages need to go out more quickly. And if someone has an idea for an “alternative communication method besides ENS for a situation where we just want to let people know what’s happening. I’m all ears about that.”
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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