Authorities investigate abduction allegation

  Wednesday, September 25, 2013 2:00 AM
  News

Pittsburg, KS

Authorities investigate abduction allegation

Pittsburg State University Police and Pittsburg Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding an alleged abduction of a PSU student on Tuesday.

The victim of the alleged abduction, which reportedly occurred Tuesday afternoon in an area near the Overman Student Center, was located later that day on a public street east of Pittsburg after contacting authorities to report the incident. The student was then taken to Via Christi Hospital for treatment of minor injuries.

“Many of the details surrounding this incident are unclear at this time,” said Mike McCracken, director of university police. “We believe this is an isolated incident and are following up on all leads at this time. We are asking anyone who might have information regarding this case to contact local law enforcement.”

The identity of the alleged victim is not being released at this time.

In this case, the victim of the alleged abduction was found off-campus, and therefore the Pittsburg Police Department responded to the call.

“The initial response to any alleged crime is a delicate time for investigators,” explained McCracken. “You want to be certain you are able to gather all pertinent information without compromising your investigation. It’s often why so few details are initially released.”

As detectives worked the case, Pittsburg State Police issued a general alert to students to make them aware of the possible abduction.

“We didn’t have a lot of details at that time, but we wanted to make certain our students were aware of the situation,” said McCracken. “The safety of our students is our priority, and anytime we feel there is an event that could potentially compromise that safety, we’ll issue an alert.”

The university notified students of the alleged abduction using a new communication system known as RAVE. The system, which was installed in the spring of this year, allows law enforcement to send alerts through multiple channels at once.

“It’s a huge improvement over our prior system,” said McCracken. “Using a single system we can now alert our campus through e-mail, text, and phone at the same time. The system also takes over computer screens throughout campus with details of the alert.”

Although the RAVE system has been tested throughout the semester, Tuesday’s event is the first time it has been used for an actual alert.


Categories

Archives

Connect With Us