Moorhead Police say a code red for armed robbery was not warranted

Moorhead, Minn. (WDAY TV) - While MSUM students and faculty were alerted to the robbery by text messaging, residents in Moorhead found out mostly through TV, radio, and talking to neighbors. Reporter Stephanie Goetz tells us why law enforcement did not issue a code red throughout the city.

Moorhead Police say the reason a code red was not issued in the area last night is because they didn't have accurate enough information, plus, they said it wasn't warranted.

Police say they use the city-wide phone alert system for things like missing people and flood announcements. They say they didn't have enough "correct" information about where the armed robbers fled to Sunday, saying this could have lead to panic.

Police say code reds are meant to inform people, not to cause alarm and they say last night's alert would have only alarmed people.