Officer Townsend speaks his mind about the UNA threat.

This past week, the University of North Alabama had a disturbing call. At approximately 1:30 pm, the university received a phone call with a threatening message. The caller told campus police that he was going to bomb UNA.

A few weeks earlier, the university had received a letter with threats of an attack. Therefore, when the phone call came in, they had no choice but to take action. Students were forced to evacuate the campus immediately. Parents were alerted and told to pick up the students.

From there, the police began to search the campus to make sure no one had gotten in. Bob Jones takes a similar approach in the case of this type of emergency. “It depends on what information we’ve gotten,” states Officer Townsend. “Depending on the information we will do either one of two things: evacuate or hold in place. If we evacuate, it will be either partial or full, depending on the situation.”

Officer Townsend also warns against the dangers of using cells, radio, and other electronic devices as they might activate the bomb.

School authorities would be in charge of informing parents, media, and other civilians of what is happening. After everyone is safe, then the school will deal with prosecuting the suspect. Thankfully, we have not had to use these tactics yet. But in the event that this does happen, we will be prepared.