CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Students are questioning how police at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte handle threats to campus safety.
Several students reached out to NBC Charlotte after learning police are looking for a man who has been trespassing inside student residence halls, but say students were never notified.
On January 19, UNC-Charlotte police emailed fliers to resident advisors asking them to be on the lookout for 30-year-old Brandon Mangkhala, who they say has been the subject of multiple calls to South Campus Housing.
Police say Mangkhala is wanted on four outstanding warrants: three for larceny and one for a defraud charge. The flier says Mangkhala has been aggressive and belligerent when questioned and should not be approached, citing his most recent arrest was for having a concealed weapon.
“And I thought, 'well, that’s very concerning,'” says student Harrison Martin, who noticed the flier hanging outside his resident advisor’s door.
Harrison then snapped a photo of it and tweeted it out to warn other students.
“And it got over 100 retweets in a couple of days,” says Martin.
But the tweet prompted students across campus to ask why they were never notified by police.
“That’s kind of a big issue, I would think. Definitely should have notified students, not just RAs, everybody on campus,” said student Robert O’Shea.
Student Jenna Basel says there have been similar issues over the school year in which police only notified students after an incident occurred, instead of giving them warning beforehand. She says this is another example.
“I just feel like we haven’t been well informed. I mean I won’t walk around at night by myself if there’s somebody out here, that’s dangerous and the police not notifying us made me very uncomfortable when I saw the sheet,” she said.
NBC Charlotte reached out to UNC-Charlotte’s chief of police who said Mangkhala’s charges were misdemeanor-in-nature and therefore did not meet the criteria for a campuswide alert, adding that he was simply a trespasser.
According to the university’s website, text alerts are sent only “in the event of an emergency that presents an imminent threat to the safety of the campus community”.
Police Chief Baker says examples of such emergencies include felony charges and sexual assaults.
But still, students say they should have been informed.
“I think it would be a much bigger deal if it were a felony, but it’s still something that students should be notified about,” said O’Shea.
Martin agreed, adding, “I think the student body should be made known about it, not in a way to concern them or to cause panic or worry, but so that we can be informed and safe on campus.”