Emergency 'blue' light phones are ubiquitous on college campuses - originally installed so students could call dispatch directly for help.
Today, they are rarely used, and when they are, it is not for emergencies. They are used for non-emergency requests, i.e.: being locked out of the car. More often, they are intentionally activated by someone who is GOA (gone on arrival) when help arrives. It can be argued they provide a false sense of security - the presence of a 'blue' light phone certainly isn't going to deter a criminal act. They are expensive to install and maintain. They aren't required; there are no standards to govern what they look like or where they are placed. Given all that, and with the proliferation of cell phones and E911 - are they still necessary?
This question has been bounced around the DRU (disaster resistant university) listserv lately and there are ardent supporters on either side. Some campuses believe their visibility adds value to the perception of security, or that they play a role in application decisions, or that repurposing them with cameras and speakers extends their security presence. Other campuses have spent enough time responding to prank calls or replacing vandalized units, have explained the tradeoff to parents, and are not installing new ones/replacing old ones.
Bottom line - this is a ROI (return on investment) question for each campus. Where else could you be spending those shrinking security dollars? More officers? A better emergency notification system? Buying cell phones for students who don't have one (I'm sure there are a few of those)?
Campus budgets are getting slashed. We don't want to cut services for security any more than we want to cut services for anything else - but we have to make choices. {cue: Bob Seger "Against the Wind"} What to leave in? What to leave out?
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Today, they are rarely used, and when they are, it is not for emergencies. They are used for non-emergency requests, i.e.: being locked out of the car. More often, they are intentionally activated by someone who is GOA (gone on arrival) when help arrives. It can be argued they provide a false sense of security - the presence of a 'blue' light phone certainly isn't going to deter a criminal act. They are expensive to install and maintain. They aren't required; there are no standards to govern what they look like or where they are placed. Given all that, and with the proliferation of cell phones and E911 - are they still necessary?
This question has been bounced around the DRU (disaster resistant university) listserv lately and there are ardent supporters on either side. Some campuses believe their visibility adds value to the perception of security, or that they play a role in application decisions, or that repurposing them with cameras and speakers extends their security presence. Other campuses have spent enough time responding to prank calls or replacing vandalized units, have explained the tradeoff to parents, and are not installing new ones/replacing old ones.
Bottom line - this is a ROI (return on investment) question for each campus. Where else could you be spending those shrinking security dollars? More officers? A better emergency notification system? Buying cell phones for students who don't have one (I'm sure there are a few of those)?
Campus budgets are getting slashed. We don't want to cut services for security any more than we want to cut services for anything else - but we have to make choices. {cue: Bob Seger "Against the Wind"} What to leave in? What to leave out?
