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CAS 138

Joshua Avalos

Securing College Campuses


A brief overview of the ongoing safety issues on college campuses in America

Blue-light Phone. 20 Mar. 2018.

Students Value Safety

In this day and age, there is an exuberant amount of discussion and concern

regarding safety on college campuses. Liberty University, one of the largest schools in the

nation with over 80,000 students,1 interacts in this dialogue. On their website, they assure

those thinking about attending that they go “above and beyond mere legal compliance to
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provide high level security to its campus community.”2 Additionally, state schools that near

50,000 students3 such as Pennsylvania State University stress a message of safety to

potential and current students. They say, “the safety of students, faculty, and staff has been,

and continues to be a top priority.”4 All schools call attention to this message because it is

the number one priority of students and their parents. In a recent study, 985 parents were

questioned on what requirements they had for their children’s schools, both secondary and

college level. Nearly 75% of those parents chose to list a safe environment as one of their

top priorities.5 The safety of students is definitely something that is valued, and obvious

measures are being taken in order to protect students from danger. However, are these

measures actually working to keep students safe?

Unfortunately, while some officials are trying to enhance security on their

campuses, most have not yet developed a thriving model that others can follow.6 By looking

at Penn State specifically, one is able to capture effective and efficient prevention concepts

for use in college campuses. These concepts should theoretically keep campus as secure as

possible when it comes to property crimes (theft) and violent crimes (aggravated assault,

rape).

Interview with Penn State Chief Physical Security Officer

To be more specific about prevention techniques, Pennsylvania State University’s

security measures were studied and compiled in order to present an example of a standard

university’s techniques. Information was provided by Scotty Eble, Penn State’s Chief

Physical Security Officer in a phone interview. This data will be shared and cited when it is

used.

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Current Prevention Techniques at Penn State

Many college campuses have a student police force on duty.7 These students are on

patrol during sporting events, high traffic volume days, and odd hours of the night in an

effort to stop crime and allow for organized crowds. At Penn State, “[student police

officers] carry police radios and walk Penn State students and employees from one on-

campus location to another, and to within reasonable walking distance off-campus.”8 This

service acts as a way for those who feel unsafe walking alone at night to travel with another

person who is trained for emergency situations.

Security cameras are also a popular technique. Cameras allow campus security to

watch live for suspicious behavior and unauthorized access.9 They also serve as a deterrent

to theft and break-ins; once perpetrators see them, they think twice about committing a

crime for fear of being caught.10 Even after someone commits a crime, archived footage

from these cameras, can be used to identify an offender, ultimately an extremely flexible

prevention technique.11

Another prevention method offered on most college campuses are blue-light

phones. These stanchions, equipped with bright blue LED lights on its top, are set up

around a college campus. They feature an emergency button that calls the university police

and notifies them of a potential threat or a need for assistance.

The last notable approach is the electronic alert system that most colleges have in

place. This service texts, emails, or calls subscribers with severe weather notifications,

closings, and most importantly, campus emergencies. Currently, this is most used in active

shooter situations. While this is best used outside of the scope of this paper, which is

property and violent crimes, it is certainly a good technique that is worth referencing. A

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range of colleges from small to large, from engineering to liberal arts based, including The

Georgia Public Liberal Arts University12, Texas A&M University13, and Pennsylvania State

University14, all have this system in place.

Dangerously High Campus Crime Rates

Unfortunately, while many colleges are implementing some of these techniques,

crime rates are still excessively high. In 2016, there were over 36,319 campus crimes

reported by colleges in America (as required by the Clery ActA).15 An additional 76,380

campus crimes were cited in FBI crime reports (this figure is shown below).16 This is

almost 113,000 campus crimes that occurred in a single year. From the figure, it is visible

that 95% of these crimes relate to property, while the additional 5% are related to

violence.17

A
The Clery Act is a consumer protection law that forces colleges and universities to provide clarity on campus
crime statistics and policies.

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"School and Campus Crime," Office for Victims of Crime, accessed March 30, 2018,
https://ovc.ncjrs.gov/ncvrw2016.
While it is important to recognize that the statistical increase in these

crimes18, it is even more important to focus on the quantity of crimes in the first place. One

study shows that over 479,000 acts of violence are committed on college campuses every

year.19 This number accounts for those that are not reported to the administration, and

therefore not reported to the government. To put this into perspective, all of the 47,000

undergraduate students at Penn State would need to commit over 10 federal crimes every

year to amount to this large of a number.

Most students are fearful to walk on their supposedly safe campuses.20 Ms.

Rosenburg from Ohio State University is a perfect example of this. She and her friends don’t

feel safe walking anywhere on campus after dusk. Ms. Roseburg describes that these

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daunting circumstances are what ultimately forced her to join a self-defense club and

become “a connoisseur of mace dispensers.”21 At Penn State specifically, there were nearly

150 criminal offenses reported in 2016.22 This number is a 60% increase from the 89

reported criminal offenses in 2014.23

Solutions for the Future

College students in America are terrified of having to deal with these types of crimes

happening to them.24 They realize that controlling crime is nearly impossible, and therefore

turn to self-defense classes and prayer that they don’t get robbed or sexually assaulted on

campus.25 Actions must be taken in order to preserve the American college campus and its

safety. While enterprising actions will cost colleges, they will ultimately limit crimes and

save funds in the long run.

One: Police Kiosks

From 1995-1998, Temple University built three police kiosks on their campus.26

Police kiosks are small, one-man booths that a police officer sits in to keep a keen eye for

trouble. These kiosks not only allow for vigilance, they deter crime as well.27 The first was

built in 1995 at the commuter train station. After that, in 1997, one was constructed at the

very end of the walkway to the commuter train station. Finally, in 1998, the third was built

on the opposite side of the campus next to the athletic facilities.28 After analyzing crime

data, researchers found an interesting result. Before the kiosks were built, the average

crime rate for the past five years was 11 crimes per year.

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George F. Rengert, Mark T. Mattson, and Kristin D. Henderson, Campus Security:


Situational Crime Prevention in High-density Environments (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rinner
Pub,.2010), 54.

After they were built, this average dropped to a stunning 2.6 crimes per year.29 Five

more were added by 2005, and since then, their presence continues to discourage crime.30

Some of these kiosks are manned from five in the afternoon until six in the morning, and

some are manned from two in the afternoon until two in the morning, all depending on

their location and the crimes that are most likely in that area.31 Sam Ro, a senior at Temple,

said “It gives me more security, having a car [on campus] and knowing it’s not going to get

broken into.”32 It not only deters crime but allows students and faculty to focus on their

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studies and not on if their car is being stolen. While these police kiosks would create a great

demand for more workers, the supply of them is essential to keeping the streets as safe as

possible. As such, colleges should construct these as part of their prevention strategy in

order to create a safer environment for those on and off campus. These kiosks can provide

a sense of security to anybody who is concerned for their safety. Walking towards one of

these would most likely prevent any person from harming them because of the police

presence in the booth. Due to this, kiosks are a great addition to college campuses and

should be implemented in order to ensure the best safety for students.

Two: Blue-light Phones

Blue-light phones, like the one pictured at the beginning of this report, are poles

with a call box and a bright, blue light on top. They are intended to be set up everywhere:

big cities, questionable boroughs, and even college campuses. Their purpose is to help

someone who is in a bad situation. Their purpose is to help someone who is in a bad

situation. This person is probably experiencing both shock and panic, which can make it

very difficult to even call out for help, much less dial a number on their phone. Instead of

having to dial someone, they simply press one button on the blue-light phone and help will

come.

Unlike cell phones, they typically rely on a landline connection, thus, no internet or

cellular shortages stop these phones from working.33 They also have a microphone and

speaker that allows for direct communication between the caller and the police. Over 90%

of public and private universities had several of these systems installed by 2005.34 The

University of Colorado Boulder (UCB) states that this technology is outdated and its little

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usage discourages them from maintaining it with tuition money.35 Contrary to UCB’s

standing, many other colleges are of the opinion that blue-light phones work to discourage

crime.36 In 2012, a blue-light phone helped Florida State University police officers

apprehend a suspected rapist that attacked a student.37

During an interview with Scotty Eble, Chief Physical Officer of Penn State, he said, “I

have a hard time removing the ones [blue-light phones] we have. Cellular technology

cannot be relied on for a true emergency. Those phones are coming off of campus hotlines.

That means they are not using VOIP or cellular phonics, they are using a Centrex analog line

which is monitored for integrity.” He continued, saying, “We’ll never know the amount of

times someone thinks they are being followed by a suspicious person and they walk near

one of these stanchions and the perpetrator leaves.”38 Officer Eble urges everyone to learn

more about these lights and be ready to use one if the situation arises. Along these lines,

Robin Hattersley Gray, editor of Campus Safety Magazine, says, “During an emergency, the

stress of it all can rattle folks so much that they aren’t able to dial a three- or seven-digit

number. Just being able to push one button helps with that.”

Ultimately, experience from police officers is the ultimate guide in revealing that

these stanchion’s existence, their high visibility, and their positioning all play in role in

discouraging a person who might otherwise engage in a crime, either property or violent.39

Officer Eble commented that Penn State is putting Quad Cameras on their stanchions

around campus.40 This allows officers responding to the call to get a 360º view of the

situation and assess the situation while arriving on scene. He also says they help with

surveillance when looking for recently committed crimes; headquarters are able to tell

those in pursuit which way a suspect fled, what they were wearing, and any other available

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details.41 Adding more of these stanchions will advocate for a safer environment on

campus, deterring crime and allowing those who feel threatened immediate assistance. In

addition, they will also prove a valuable resource to local police when they are attempting

to assess a situation and figure out how to respond. One of the best ways to do this is with

the Quad Cameras that seems to be making its way onto college campuses. These

technologies should be implemented in order to allow campuses to prevent crime,

encourage safety, and be prepared to handle any situations that may arise.

Three: Surveillance Cameras

The last crime prevention method is the surveillance camera. In 2011, researchers

published a study that showed how crime cameras were a cost-effective deterrent.42 Over

500 cameras were placed in Baltimore, and since they were installed, crime has been

driven down in most areas, and taxpayers were given returns of around $1.50 per every

dollar spent on the security measure.43 These cameras also assisted police in the arrest of

two murderers.44 Naturally, the same results happened in Chicago. Cameras were installed

and people were notified that they were monitored, and the city saved over $815,000

taxpayer dollars a month on criminal justice costs and victims’ financial and emotional

costs.45 This amounted to $4.30 for every dollar spent on the security measure.46

Not only is it a deterrent, but it can be used after the fact as well. Surveillance

cameras are one of the best ways to determine the who, where, and when of the situation at

hand.47 On a local level, Officer Eble believes that Penn State is doing a good job adding

security cameras to blue-light phones, but he sees a big omission in the security measure.

He notes that most of the cameras on campus are still analog cameras.48 Analog cameras

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don’t record more than 1 or 2 megapixels in resolution.49 To put this in perspective, the

iPhone 7 is equipped with a 12 megapixel camera.50 He also explains that the campus is

trying to upgrade the cameras to 8 megapixel digital cameras but are doing so leisurely and

without urgency, and suggests that automaticity and crime-detecting algorithms are

perhaps other key features that more institutions should research.51

Ultimately, cameras that are monitored regularly deter crime more than any other

security measure.52 While they are not a panacea, they stop large amounts of crime and

allow law enforcement to focus on cases that these measures are unable to stop. Colleges

should implement more surveillance cameras with a higher resolution in order to not only

scare off possible criminals, but also to record and catch something bad happening in case

the crime was not stopped. While the cost will be very high for both server maintenance

and adding cameras, in the end, the good outweighs the bad because the cameras will stop

a significant amount of crimes from happening.

The Future

America certainly values a solid education. Now it is time for those in charge of this

education to ensure the safety of the students on campus by learning from mistakes that

others have made, ultimately constructing the best template of campus security. The best

obstructions to crime are known. The only thing that stands in the way is school

administration’s greed for money over safety. This is the one true obstacle that needs to be

dealt with before the three implementations for a successfully safe campus can occur.

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Endnotes

1 "List of the Top 300 Largest Universities & Colleges," Match College, accessed March 25, 2018,

https://www.matchcollege.com/top-colleges.

2 "Campus Safety and Security," Campus Safety and Security | LU Police Department | Liberty University,

accessed March 29, 2018, http://www.liberty.edu/administration/lupd/index.cfm?PID=18236.



3 "List of the Top 300 Largest Universities & Colleges," Match College, accessed March 25, 2018,

https://www.matchcollege.com/top-colleges.

4 "Safety at Penn State," Penn State Undergraduate Admissions, accessed March 26, 2018,

https://admissions.psu.edu/life/safety/.

5 Jillian Youngblood, "Report: What Do Parents Want from Colleges?" Noodle, January 09, 2015,

https://www.noodle.com/articles/report-what-do-parents-want-from-colleges.

6 David Nichols, Creating a Safe Campus. a Guide for College and University Administrators (Springfield, IL:

Charles C Thomas, 1997).



7 Jerlando F. L. Jackson and Melvin C. Terrell, Creating and Maintaining Safe College Campuses: A Sourcebook

for Evaluating and Enhancing Safety Programs (Sterling, VA: Stylus, 2007).

8 "Safe Walk Service," Safe Walk Service | University Police & Public Safety, accessed March 28, 2018,

https://police.psu.edu/safe-walk-service.

9 "Campus Surveillance," VideoSurveillance.com, accessed March 30, 2018,

https://www.videosurveillance.com/campus.asp.

10 Ibid.


11 Ibid.


12 "Emergency Systems," Georgia College, January 12, 2018, accessed March 30, 2018,

http://www.gcsu.edu/publicsafety/emergency-systems.

13 "Emergency Preparedness - Texas A&M University, College Station, TX," Texas A&M University, , accessed

March 30, 2018, https://www.tamu.edu/emergency/.



14 Pennsylvania State University, "PSUAlert," PSUAlert, accessed March 30, 2018,

https://psualert.psu.edu/psualert/.

15 "School and Campus Crime," Office for Victims of Crime, accessed March 30, 2018,

https://ovc.ncjrs.gov/ncvrw2016.

16 Ibid.


17
Ibid.
18
Ibid.

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19
Michele Antoinette Paludi, Bethany L. Waits, and Paula Lundberg-Love, Understanding and Preventing Campus
Violence (Praeger, 2008), 51-52.
20
Aimee Lee Ball, "Students Fear Venturing Out Alone at Night on Campus.," The New York Times, July 20, 2012,
accessed March 30, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/20/education/edlife/students-fear-venturing-out-alone-
at-night-on-campus.html?pagewanted=all.
21
Ibid.
22
Campus Safety and Security, accessed March 31, 2018, https://ope.ed.gov/campussafety.
23
Ibid.
24
Hope Racine, "Prepared Not Scared: College Campus Safety," Literally, Darling, September 20, 2014, accessed
March 31, 2018, http://www.literallydarling.com/blog/2014/09/20/prepared-scared-college-campus-safety/.
25
Ibid.
26
George F. Rengert, Mark T. Mattson, and Kristin D. Henderson, Campus Security: Situational Crime Prevention
in High-density Environments (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Pub., 2010), 48-59.
27
Ibid.
28
Ibid.
29
Ibid.
30
Todd Broadbent, "Police Add Five Security Kiosks," The Temple News, November 29, 2005, March April 31,
2018, https://temple-news.com/police-add-five-security-kiosks/.
31
Ibid.
32
Ibid.

33 "5' 8" Pedestal Phones 2100-P Series." Emergency Blue Light 5'8" Pedestal Help Phones | Rath Security.

Accessed March 30, 2018. http://www.rathsecurity.com/pedestalphones.html.



34
Mary A. Lentz et al., Campus Security for Public and Private Colleges and Universities (Eagan, MN: Thomson
Reuters, 2016).
35
Melissa Zak, "From the Police Chief: Why We Are Removing the Campus 'blue Light' Phones," CU Boulder
Today, August 12, 2016, accessed April 01, 2018, https://www.colorado.edu/today/2015/12/14/police-chief-why-
we-are-removing-campus-blue-light-phones.
36
"Study Of Blue Light Police Cameras Finds Crime Deterrence Depends On Police Response," The Huffington
Post, November 19, 2011, accessed April 01, 2018, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/19/blue-light-camera-
study-f_n_969721.html.

37 Ibid.


38
"Discussing Campus Safety at Penn State," telephone interview by author, March 28, 2018.
39
Brynn Mechem, "Emergency Telephones, Blue Lights Help Promote Campus Safety," Ball State Daily,
November 03, 2016, accessed April 01, 2018, http://www.ballstatedaily.com/article/2016/11/news-blue-lights-
emergency-telephones-help-promote-campus-safety.

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40
"Discussing Campus Safety at Penn State," telephone interview by author, March 28, 2018.
41
Ibid.
42
Justin Fenton, "Crime Cameras: A Cost-effective Deterrent, New Study Says," Tribune digital-baltimore sun,
September 19, 2011, accessed April 01, 2018, http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-09-19/news/bs-md-ci-crime-
camera-study-20110919_1_crime-cameras-dashboard-cameras-surveillance-cameras.
43
Ibid.
44
Kevin McCaneySep, "Do Surveillance Systems Reduce Crime?" GCN, accessed April 01, 2018,
https://gcn.com/articles/2011/09/20/surveillance-cameras-effect-on-preventing-crimes.aspx.
45
Ibid.
46
Ibid.
47
Mary A. Lentz et al., Campus Security for Public and Private Colleges and Universities (Eagan, MN: Thomson
Reuters, 2016).
48
Discussing Campus Safety at Penn State," telephone interview by author, March 28, 2018.
49
Glenn Adair, "Understanding Megapixel Camera Technology for Network Video Surveillance Systems" (lecture).
50
"iPhone 7 - Technical Specifications," Apple, accessed April 01, 2018, https://www.apple.com/iphone-7/specs/.
51
Discussing Campus Safety at Penn State," telephone interview by author, March 28, 2018.
52
"Study Shows Surveillance Cameras Reduce Crime, in Some Cases," Homeland Security Newswire, September
26, 2011, accessed April 01, 2018, http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/study-shows-surveillance-cameras-
reduce-crime-some-cases.

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