Blue-light phones to be installed

The 60 new emergency phones will be cellular and solar-powered. After 16 months of delays resulting from technical glitches, community resistance and industry turmoil, Division of Public Safety officials say they will begin installing 60 new blue-light emergency telephones on and around campus within the next two weeks. Following a September 1996 crime wave that culminated in the shooting of a Penn student, officials announced in October 1996 that the new phones -- which provide a direct connection to University Police -- would be installed on November 1 of that year. There are already about 150 such phones in operation around campus using older technology. Technological glitches, however, have marred the new phones. The cellular phones transmit their information through a signal back to the police station, while the older phones are directly connected to the building via a wire. The University recently signed a contract with Comarco Inc., a wireless-technology company in Yorba Linda, Calif., to provide the new blue-light phones. For about a year, officials have been testing the new technology in two similar phones, one at 36th Street and Locust Walk and the other at 40th and Locust streets, but the phones have had consistent problems. Now officials say they have ironed out those difficulties. "If the signal does not work 100 percent of the time, the phones aren't effective," Director of Security Services Stratis Skoufalos said. "We're pretty sure we're satisfied with the most recent tests of the signals." Other delays in the process resulted from the fact that the University needed approval from a variety of groups, including city officials and neighborhood groups, to install the phones in off-campus locations. "One of the major issues was we wanted the University to talk to neighbors about where the phones should go before they just put them up," Spruce Hill Community Association President Joe Ruane said. Community groups also worried that the bright yellow boxes and blue lights of the phones might detract from the aesthetics of the neighborhood. "The neighbors wanted to make sure [the phones] were noticeable, so people could see them in an emergency, but they weren't an eyesore," Ruane said. Neighborhood groups fought with the University over the design of the phones after the plan was announced. Original plans called for a large sign atop the phones, calling attention to their presence. However, community members are now satisfied with the new, signless design, according to History Department Chairperson Lynn Lees, a longtime West Philadelphia resident. Skoufalos also blamed the volatility in the security-services industry for the long delay. "There was a lot of flux in the industry," he said. "We had some difficulty in getting commitment from a stable company." Some of the existing phones based on the old technology will be replaced, but most will remain in use, according to Associate Director of Security Services Chris Algard. Construction has already begun on the bases for some of the new phones in locations on campus. After the first phase of construction, "there will be an ongoing process of installing phones until we are satisfied that the campus is adequately covered," Algard said. University officials eventually hope to have a phone installed at every major intersection on and around campus, according to Skoufalos.

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