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Two Indiana State University students were confronted at gunpoint late Wednesday night just off campus, but ISU officials did not issue a campus-wide RAVE Alert until almost ten hours after the incident occurred.

The victims told police they were crossing the Long John Silvers parking lot near the intersection of Fourth and Ohio streets about 11 p.m. when a white female with shoulder length blonde hair pointed a gun at them and demanded the drinks they were carrying, according to the RAVE Alert.

The suspect was sitting in an older model silver colored vehicle and was accompanied by another female the students could not describe, according to the alert. The students were able to flee the scene without injury. ISU and Terre Haute Police are seeking further information about the incident and the alert did not indicate the suspects had been apprehended.

Despite the students reporting the crime an hour after it occurred to ISU Police, authorities waited until Thursday morning to notify the campus community. A RAVE Alert was sent via text message and e-mail at 9:15 a.m., describing the incident as an attempted robbery and directing people to Public Safetys website for more details.

Public Safety director Bill Mercier said he believed it was unnecessary to activate the RAVE Alert system so late at night.

It wasnt that significant and didnt pose an immediate threat, Mercier said. I thought it could wait for the morning.

According to the Indiana State University Police Departments annual security and fire report from 2011, the Department of Public Safety shall make timely warnings under the heading crime alerts when the Chief of Police or his/her designee affirms that the offense presents a threat to the university community.

The purpose of the alert is to provide information in a timely manner to aid in preventing similiar events, the report also states; but students disagree with the time lapse in which the alert was issued.

I feel like we should have been alerted beforehand, said freshman business major Austin Robbins. There are still a lot of people out at that time of night, and where it happened wasnt far from campus.

Freshman elementary education major Ashley Buchannan also agrees, saying It was kind of pointless sending us an e-mail this morning.I would want to know after it happened, not almost 12 hours after it happened.

See more here:
ISU: RAVE alert system effective