Timely Warning: Mobile Campus Crime Alerts May Have Unintended Effects

• In Event: Social Media and Communication About/During Crises and Natural Disasters

Abstract

The 1990 Jeanne Clery Act mandates that colleges and universities issue notifications about any “serious or continuing threats” on campus. While this is intended to increase safety, researchers have raised concerns about the effectiveness of mobile emergency notifications, including the variety of audience interpretations and the lack of context and detail in these short messages. In this mixed-methods pilot study we ask: How do respondents react to mobile crime notifications and what are the potential unintended effects of these alerts? To investigate these questions, we employed quantitative and qualitative survey questions as well as in-depth interviews with campus officials in order to gain a variety of perspectives on campus crime alerts. We found that some survey respondents are excessively fearful of crime and over-react to crime alerts while others seem to be relatively inattentive to these notifications.

Authors

• Amy Adele Hasinoff, U of Colorado Denver

• Patrick Krueger, U of Colorado Denver