It’s alarming to receive a public safety alert announcing the presence of strangers in fellow students’ residences. But what’s more alarming is to receive that PSA nine hours after the fact.

That’s what happened Friday night after suspects were found in two separate off-campus student residences. Although no one was harmed, the Department of Public Safety’s failure to promptly communicate this crucial information put students who were still out that evening at risk. DPS has a responsibility to communicate this and other PSA-worthy crimes efficiently and transparently to students and the greater Georgetown community.

While deterring and investigating crimes should be DPS’s first priority, the ongoing maintenance of community safety depends on an informed public. If students in West Georgetown Friday night had been made aware of the incidents immediately, they would have been able to take precautions for their own safety and to act as an asset to police in search of the suspects.

This is not the first time that DPS has issued a delayed PSA. In November, an alert about an armed robbery that took place at 9:10 p.m. on Saturday Nov. 19 — again, a time when many students were out around campus and the neighborhood — was not sent until Sunday at 2:36 p.m. With a more effective notification system, DPS would better protect and equip the community to respond to safety risks.

While we recognize that DPS may require time to ensure that PSAs are accurate, it has misreported important details of crimes in the past even with several hours to draft an alert. In a PSA about a burglary at Vital Vittles Thursday, DPS reported that $600 was stolen when the actual amount was about $300 — and did so almost seven hours after the robbery.

With accuracy as such a concern, it is understandable that DPS would spend extra time to write accurate PSAs. But a preliminary warning email with basic information sent soon after a crime would benefit students who are out and about.

DPS should also include the Citizen Complaint Numbers for all incidents in its PSAs. These numbers, which allow individuals to obtain the Metropolitan Police Department record for a crime, would allow the community to track the progress and resolution of criminal investigations that occur in the area. Currently, it is almost impossible for students to determine whether cases have been solved and with what result. By pairing a faster basic alert system with increased access to police records, DPS could foster a safer community.

When it comes to notifications about crime, clarity and speed are essential. An alert about a crime sent nine hours after it has been committed is not an alert at all.