Seamon offers new master safety plan

Chicago, IL Public Safety Managing Director Thomas Seasmon's new master plan for campus security incorporates a "community policing" philosophy with a comprehensive strategy for improving the quality of life on and around campus. The plan - which is to be implemented over the next three to five years - is divided into sections dealing with police, security, community and government issues. I focuses on "community policing," which Seamon described as a partnership with the entire University community intended to increase the quality of life on campus. He added that its main component is a change in the police department's attitude toward the Penn community. "They must adapt a customer service orientation towards everyone who works, lives and visits the campus," he explained. The plan calls for the police department to: double the number of detectives employed by the department from four to eight; formalize a better working relationship with the Philadelphia Police department; receive national accreditation for the department which would allow it to conduct a thorough internal audit; and increase cooperation with other security providers, such as those at Temple and Drexel universtieis. Additionally, the plan stresses the need for a new unified Public Safety facility to accommodate high-technology security and coordinate the private security personnel employed by the University. The department is currently housed in two separate locations. The plan also reiterates the department's long-standing desire to equip its officers with semi-automatic handguns similar to those carried by the Philadelphia Police Department. In the area of security, the plan calls for the creation of a state-of-the art technological infrastructure for the campus as well as for improving the performance of the private security guards already employed. Seamon said he envisions the new infrastructure to include improved alarm and access-control systems, limited use of closed-circuit television monitoring, and upgraded bluelight emergency phones similar to those already used on campus. The plan also prposes to establish minimum security standards for the campus, as well as a comprehensive security audit of each building. At the governmental level, the plan proposes partnership with local governments on "qualitative" issues as street vendors, panhandlers, the homeless, traffic flow on main campus arteries like Spruce and Walnut streets, and improved public lighting in off-campus areas.