University Police temporarily closed a portion of Hill Street near the Ross School of Business early this morning after receiving a report of a suspicious package in the area.
The call, which came at 12:45 a.m. when a security officer at the Business School found a package near the Business School, prompted the University’s Department of Public Safety to close Hill Street between East University Avenue and Tappan Street.
DPS spokeswoman Diane Brown said there were “elements of the package that raised (police) suspicion,” and officers called the Michigan State Police Bomb Squad to the scene.
Brown said University Police cleared the scene and re-opened the street at about 2 a.m. after determining the package did not pose a threat to the area.
However, until the scene had been cleared, yellow caution tape blocked the area where two ambulances, a firetruck and several squad cars stood by.
During the incident, DPS Sargeant Richmond told The Michigan Daily that officers were checking out the area with a K-9 dog.
“It might be nothing, but we have to take the necessary precautions,” Richmond said at the time.
Richmond said no one was inside the Business School at the time the street was closed.
Several loud noises could be heard at points across campus shortly after the scene had been cleared.
However, Brown said that the noises were part of a routine process used to disperse large groups of crows that populate the campus at night and the noises were not at all related to the supicious package or the result of an explosion.
According to conversations overheard on a police scanner, University Police followed a reportedly suspicious white van traveling south on South State Street. But police officers on the scanner reported that they had lost the van at Hill Street.
However, University Police later reported that the vehicle was part of the crow dispersal efforts on campus and did not pursue the matter further.