LOGAN — A “false alarm” from Utah State University Wednesday afternoon caused panic and confusion, after the school advised students about a possible threat. The Code Blue Alert was accidentally issued just after 3 p.m.
The alert stated: “We’ve received reports of an armed aggressor on the USU Logan campus. Run, hide, or fight. Police responding.”
The alert was sent out electronically by text message and social media, through the school’s Code Blue Alert system. It quickly spread online through the campus.
Ten minutes later, the school sent out a second alert that said: “All Clear: During testing of the Code Blue system, an alert was accidentally sent. Disregard previous message. Resume normal activities.”
A press release from the school explained that while installing a new emergency alert system, the message about an armed aggressor was accidentally sent to the Logan campus. The all-clear alert was sent out within minutes to let the campus know it was a false alarm.
USU recently purchased the new system to send out emergency notifications rapidly in the event of a campus emergency such as an armed aggressor. The system includes buttons attached to the wall at USU Public Safety dispatch. In a real emergency, a message could be sent quickly when someone calls 911.