Some students surprised by UD’s use of sirens to warn about police activity

DAYTON — University of Dayton students being warned of police activity near campus were surprised to hear a warning as sirens began sounding Tuesday.

Students said that the university often gives them a heads-up about events that could threaten them or that they need to know about.

But it’s usually in email or text form, which did happen Tuesday when police searched the UD Arena area for suspects in a cell phone store robbery.

However, this time there was an additional and unexpected warning.

People on campus Tuesday afternoon could hear the sirens, but not everybody realized the sirens were associated with the email alerts they received about the police activity.

“I was in class right before that and I heard sirens,” said Alyssa Ramstetter, a UD senior. “We just assumed it was a storm or an emergency, but we weren’t sure.”

Ramstetter was supposed to hear near where police tracked down several suspects accused of robbing a cell phone store.

The teens had traveled from The Dayton Mall area, jumped out of their stolen vehicle and ran close to the baseball field and track complex, close to UD Arena.

“I’m on the track team,” said Ramstetter. “We practice over there.”

She said they eventually drove over to practice, never aware that the siren was connected to the warnings.

Other students also said they hadn’t heard the sirens before.

“No I haven’t,” said Zach Burneka. “Only when they do tests once a week.”

University officials declined to do an on-camera interview, but told this publication in a statement that, “When we learned that several armed suspects were being pursued by police in the Arena area and could be headed to the main campus, we initiated our alert procedures”

UD maintained that sirens are part of that typical response.

“Protocols call for alerting campus in a variety of ways, including sounding sirens and sending phone, email and text messages,” said the university.

But even four-year students said the sirens took them by surprise.

“You wonder and you hope it wouldn’t cause panic when it happens,” said Ramstetter.

One other thing students agree on is their feelings that university officials do a good job of informing them of things that potentially impact campus safety.