On Sept. 11, Mississippi State University students and faculty received a Maroon Alert reporting an attempted abduction was reported behind Sessums Hall.  A few days later, the MSU Police Department determined it was a hoax. 
On Feb. 29, 2012, another on-campus abduction was also ruled a hoax. On this occasion, a Maroon Alert was also dispatched to notify the public of the alleged abduction. 
Brad Massey, MSU chief detective, said he investigated both reports and he does not know why the people made false reports.
“Sometimes I think it might be for attention,” Massey said. “Everything is looked at that as it is originally reported. You can go into it with an open mind that the person is telling the truth.”
Because of campus detectives like Massey, false reports are recognized and prosecuted.
Ann Bailey, director of Housing and Residence Life, said if a story is not matching up, the detectives will figure it out.
“Generally, the individual will break,” Bailey said. “At some point, we will publicly admit that it did not occur the way that they said it did or not.”
When that happens, the student who filed the false report faces the consequences.
Thomas Bourgeois, dean of students, said filing a false report is committing fraud and falls under the MSU Student Code of Conduct.
“Any student who violates any of those codes of conducts are subject to being charged under the student code of conduct,” he said. “Of course, if you are found responsible, there are sanctions that range from warnings up to being expelled from campus depending on the nature of the event.”
People who file false reports must repay the police department for overtime hours that occurred while investigating the false report.
“We take a false report of a crime very seriously,” Massey said. “It takes away our abilities to investigate real crimes when we are having to put our resources and efforts to something that didn’t occur.”
Massey also said false reports and their outcome hurt the university’s image when a crime is said to have happened on campus when it has not.
“It gives people who are possibly sending their children to the university saying they don’t want to go there because they have this happening,” Massey said. “It gives the university a bad image, and we take it very seriously. “
But when a report is decided to be crucial to campus safety, the Dean of Students Office coordinates the campus crisis response.
“There’s six different on-call people as well as four incident commanders — Bill Kibler (vice president of Student Affairs), Amy Tuck (vice president for Campus Services), myself and Bill Broyles (assistant vice president of Student Affairs) — who kind of decide on what threshold needs to be met when a message is sent out to campus and how that message is sent out,” Bourgeois said.
 
At this time, the crisis action team assembles in the command center at the Butler Guest House on campus located next to the MSU Police Department. Kibler generally serves as the incident commander. The team consists of around 30 experts in different areas concerning campus and the university.
Bailey is also member of the crisis action team. She said members of the crisis action team are there until the incident has been taken care of — all night long, if necessary.
“Whenever there is a report of a shooting or an assault or anything where the campus community needs to be immediately notified, we all kick into high gear,” Bailey said. “We immediately determine if we need to or not issue a Maroon Alert because we are required to notify all of campus. So, the resident adviser wouldn’t necessarily notify their residents about that issue. It would come from a higher authority.”
MSU police are immediately contacted in the case of a campus emergency. The police get in touch with Dean Bourgeois or the crisis action team member who is on-call at that time of the emergency.
Georgia Lindley, MSU chief of police and member of the crisis action team, said the police department responds immediately when notified by a Maroon Alert. 
“I keep the other members apprised of any safety and security matters that they may need to know about — for instance, the housing office or the dean of students or just someone who might not be aware of what exactly the police department is doing,” Lindley said.
Bailey said members of the crisis action team work until the incident and its aftermath have been addressed.
“You may go without food. You may go without sleep, but every minute is critical when you are responding to an incident,” Bailey said. “Personal comforts take a break.”
The crisis action team also updates the school’s website information that details more of the information originally sent in Maroon Alerts. In light of recent false reports, some people doubt Maroon Alerts.
“I think the Maroon Alert is one of the most misunderstood systems,” Bourgeois said. “The Maroon Alert system is more than text messaging. That is one of the small aspects. The only time we are going to send a text message is if we are telling someone to do something.”
The Maroon Alert system includes information displayed on the university’s website, GroupWise Messenger and by calling 325-5555.  Also, sirens on campus have speaker abilities in case of an emergency. 
“FM Alert” is a new app available to keep people connected with campus updates by directing messages to phones. 
Even though false reports have happened in the recent past, members of the crisis action team stress the importance of taking the alerts seriously.
“I would hope that everyone would take every Maroon Alert seriously,” Bailey said. “I can tell you that we go to great lengths and debate whether or not to send them. At the end of the day, we know that we have a duty.”