MSU Shooting Confusion NYT

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Well some of the implications are that scanner listeners contributed somehow to the confusion. The E word is mentioned.

Ban scanners not guns?

Police Radio Reveals Terror and Confusion in Hunt for Michigan State Gunman

Law enforcement faced a deluge of 911 calls containing false alarms, adding chaos to the already difficult task of securing a campus with 400 buildings.

www.nytimes.com

 

[bob550]

I think this article spoke more to the hysteria that resulted from this incident. With today's instant communications of Social Networking and texting, it's easy to get the word out to the university community without a single scanner or app being involved. The danger to doing that in an uncontrolled environment is that students, many away from home for the first time, probably overreacted to whatever they saw and heard at the time. Even the local and university police were initially confused and chasing down what turned out to be worthless leads. Not uncommon in a situation like this. And yes, the "E" word was mentioned, but in an ultimately negative manner.

 

[KevinC]

Or using the same numbers of characters (including spaces) you could type out encryption. 😉

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

I think this article spoke more to the hysteria that resulted from this incident. With today's instant communications of Social Networking and texting, it's easy to get the word out to the university community without a single scanner or app being involved. The danger to doing that in an uncontrolled environment is that students, many away from home for the first time, probably overreacted to whatever they saw and heard at the time. Even the local and university police were initially confused and chasing down what turned out to be worthless leads. Not uncommon in a situation like this. And yes, the "E" word was mentioned, but in an ultimately negative manner.

Yes, it is more likely that nearly all of the students got active shooter warning messages on their smartphones from an alerting application furnished by the school itself than from a scanner or scanner app. It is puzzling why Boadcastify and Scanners are mentioned at all.

Look at this bit:

"As time ticked by and the civilian audience on Broadcastify grew, a feedback loop of terror and confusion took hold among students, staff members and even law enforcement."

What evidence do they provide that the "civilian audience" contributed to the false 911 reports?

 

[bob550]

It is puzzling why Boadcastify and Scanners are mentioned at all.

Probably mentioned because the Times got it's material from Broadcastify.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Probably mentioned because the Times got it's material from Broadcastify.

Sure, but it goes a bit beyond an acknowledgement. It would be like NYT featuring a crime picture taken by Weegee and then implying that his pictures are motivating copy cat murders.

 

[GlobalNorth]

College students, especially undergrads, are not known for providing timely and accurate assessments of incidents. Many call 911 to find out what is happening and the call centers are inundated with these requests for information and are trying to weed through the unimportant to find the critical information.

Many UGs act on emotion and not on rationalism. Adding to the confusion is the reluctance of university/college PD chiefs and administrators to accurately disseminate what they do know to professors, students, and staffers over the fears that one of them may well be a shooter or associated with shooter/s.

ALL incidents start as a FUBAR situation. They may be sorted out before PD/FD/EMS get there or it can take hours to get enough information for a preliminary press release.

Most NYT articles are written for sensationalism and not accuracy.

 

[MississippiPI]

I think the public needs to hear what officers, fire and ems go through to se

 

[MississippiPI]

I think the public needs to hear what officers, fire and ems go through.

Be safe

 

[Golay]

Yes, it is more likely that nearly all of the students got active shooter warning messages on their smartphones from an alerting application furnished by the school itself than from a scanner or scanner app. It is puzzling why Boadcastify and Scanners are mentioned at all.

Look at this bit:

"As time ticked by and the civilian audience on Broadcastify grew, a feedback loop of terror and confusion took hold among students, staff members and even law enforcement."

What evidence do they provide that the "civilian audience" contributed to the false 911 reports?

Your first paragraph is exactly what happened. Local law enforcement and the university put out a "Be on the lookout" on every social media and instant messaging platform they could think of, asking everyone to relay any information they may know. So 911 was getting flooded with calls from a thousand people about anything they deemed may be suspicious. And that's not really an exaggeration.

This had nothing to do with Broadcastify.

 

[chrismol1]

yup I was listening to the feed as it unfolded it was chaos. Reports from all over campus at the same time, any loud noise was a 'gun shot'. I want to say people saw the cops and reported on people with guns as there were reports where cops were already located

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Your first paragraph is exactly what happened. Local law enforcement and the university put out a "Be on the lookout" on every social media and instant messaging platform they could think of, asking everyone to relay any information they may know. So 911 was getting flooded with calls from a thousand people about anything they deemed may be suspicious. And that's not really an exaggeration.

This had nothing to do with Broadcastify.

We have a local phenomenon where my fellow townspeople idiots , freak out (on Facebook or Nextdoor) whenever they see or hear a helicopter overhead. They tell each other to call 911 to ask what is happening. I don't of course because I am hearing the police helicopter on my scanner. Usually it is a chase after someone bailing from a traffic stop, kids escaping from a local youth home, and once it was a (K9 dog escaped from its handlers home (how embarrassing!)

 

[JethrowJohnson]

Ban scanners not guns?

How would banning guns help? Criminals still sell and buy fentanyl, and that's illegal. Only the people who actually obey the law would be defenseless.

 

[KC2CQD]

Yes, it is more likely that nearly all of the students got active shooter warning messages on their smartphones from an alerting application furnished by the school itself than from a scanner or scanner app. It is puzzling why Boadcastify and Scanners are mentioned at all.

Look at this bit:

"As time ticked by and the civilian audience on Broadcastify grew, a feedback loop of terror and confusion took hold among students, staff members and even law enforcement."

What evidence do they provide that the "civilian audience" contributed to the false 911 reports?

Sounds like typical media bias to me

 

[KC2CQD]

How would banning guns help? Criminals still sell and buy fentanyl, and that's illegal. Only the people who actually obey the law would be defenseless.

Indeed! The US isn't the only country where people are armed. We don't have a gun problem, we have a hypermedicated lunatic problem