An RCMP Emergency Response Team swarmed the University of B.C. campus on Wednesday, January 31. With bulletproof vests and dogs, police spent the better part of the afternoon in the biological sciences building. Neither the public nor the people inside the locked-down building were told what the police were doing.

Nevertheless, students blogged reports from within the building, saying there was a gunman loose in the building and spurring on panic and speculation. In this feature article for JournalismEthics.ca, Jordan Chittley explores the consequences of police secrecy and the limits of citizen journalism.