Safety kiosk plans near completion

Construction on security kiosks located around campus should be completed by 5 p.m. tomorrow, according to University Police Commissioner John Kuprevich. The kiosks will serve as the primary base of operation for security officers patrolling along recently designated Community Walks, he said. Walks are major arteries of campus that will receive special monitoring by Allied Security guards. In addition to manning the kiosks, officers will also be responsible for walking around their designated areas, Kuprevich said. He added that the Department of Public Safety will set up timetables for the officers, who will be required to spend between 15 and 20 minutes of every hour "in or around" the kiosk itself. "For those other 40 minutes or so, they will be walking their patrols along the Community Walk area," he said, adding that guards will normally be within sight of their kiosks. Emergency telephones are also being installed outside of the kiosks to ensure safety at times when the officers are not stationed inside them. "If someone comes to the kiosk and it happens to be at a time when a security officer is on a patrol round, they can hit a button and the security officer should return to that site within a matter of minutes," Kuprevich said. The Community Walks program is part of the University's new master security plan, which was unveiled by University President Judith Rodin in February. According to this plan, Community Walks will run through the center of campus and along other heavily travelled off-campus routes. The five kiosks and new blue-light phones are placed at strategic points along these Walks. Kuprevich said the program is a safety initiative incorporating different security elements that allow community members to improve their own personal safety. "Our model for years has been that safety is everyone's right and everyone's responsibility," he said. While it is the University's responsibility to supply safety initiatives, it is up to individuals to utilize them, Kuprevich added. "We wanted to have places north to south, east to west, where people could feel a consistent security presence where prevention is potentially higher if they chose to use those areas," he said. The first Community Walk starts at 33rd Street at Smith Walk, continues between Meyerson Hall and the Fisher Fine Arts Library and extends into College Green. A second walk begins at the corner of 34th and Locust streets, cuts west at 36th Street and continues west along Locust Walk until 40th Street. Another walk extends from 36th and Chestnut streets down to 36th Street Locust Walk, and a fourth leads towards 37th Street. The last walk route encompasses Hamilton Walk from 38th Street, and stretches east towards 36th Street from behind the Quadrangle. Kuprevich said these areas were designated for the Community Walk program because they attract the heaviest volume of traffic on campus. He added that the Department of Public Safety will maintain its current level of patrolling in the other areas of campus. Also part of the safety plan, the University has ordered 15 more blue-light phones to be placed around campus areas "close by or near walkways so that their accessibility is increased," he added. The phones should be installed within the next several weeks. "The idea is that if something happens and someone needs to get help they should be able to look around and somewhere within 360 degrees they should see a blue-light phone," Kuprevich said. In addition, he said this new system should allow for more consistent and efficient use of the University Police officers -- both on and off campus. And while the program will not further the jurisdiction of the University Police, it will increase officers' effectiveness, Kuprevich added. As soon as the kiosks are ready, there will be signs placed along the designated areas, identifying them as "Community Walks." The signs will also bear the national symbol for town watch operations -- a blue eye.

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