COLUMN: Security without a point

From Steve Schorr's, "Shoot First, Ask Questions Later," Fall '98 From Steve Schorr's, "Shoot First, Ask Questions Later," Fall '98The alarm blares. But students in Steinberg-Dietrich don't move. They have come to recognize that the loud, annoying bell is meaningless, and just one of the many confusing campus security measures they must put up with on a daily basis. Anyone who has visited Van Pelt Library has felt the frustration of the inane procedure one must undergo before leaving. An employee standing by the door requires each student to open his backpack in order to conduct some sort of search for literally no more than two seconds. Even if a student has three books in his backpack, any one of which could easily be from the library, he isn't questioned. No matter how many pockets he has in his backpack, he only has to display one in order to leave. Obviously, these searches could never hope to stop someone from stealing a book from the library. Instead, they serve as a nuisance. Another puzzle is the trouble facing anyone who tries to enter McNeil late at night or over the weekend, when the building is closed, locked and impossible to enter. Well, impossible except for the doorbell. Instead of just walking into the building, students must ring this bell and wait for someone to open the door for them. Someone always will, since they know someday soon they will be on the other end of that locked door. But sometimes it takes a while before anyone responds to the bell. This prompts whomever would like to enter to ring constantly in order to provide the students inside with a new motivation -- annoyance. Locking the door keeps absolutely nobody out. It does, however, elicit frustrated sighs from students inside and out as they realize the door is locked and they must wait for someone to open it. Then, there is Steinberg-Dietrich Hall, where students can use only one exit late at night. Unfortunately, the other exit is closer both to the Quadrangle and the high rise dormitories. In order to leave through the proper exit, a student must walk upstairs and then down a hallway in the opposite direction of the dorms. To top it off, the forbidden door opens easily, resulting merely in the sound of an alarm. This causes a frequent ringing throughout the halls of Steiny-D. Nobody cares much for this, since it is about as rare as a car alarm in a big parking lot. If anyone actually was breaking in, this alarm would not provide any advance warning. It is as if the boy has cried wolf 10 times each night for as long as anyone can remember. This alarm is purely frustrating to anyone trying to get some work done, and it causes perhaps more than a few law-abiding students to walk the long way home. And, of course, there is the card-swipe necessary to get back into the dorms. It used to be that people could swipe their own PennCards and walk through the gate. Now, some genius decided it would be better if students gave their PennCards to somebody else to swipe, who would then return it to them. The only possible benefit of this would be to determine that the student with the PennCard is actually the person pictured on it. But such a check is rarely made. Usually the security officer is reading a newspaper or book or playing Nintendo's GameBoy. He or she stops briefly to swipe the card and hand it back, without any further examination of the card or person. Thus, while they were once able to walk through, students must now wait in line if more than a couple people arrive at the same time. And recently, another precautionary measure has been taken which has doubtlessly saved numerous students. At 39th and Spruce streets, large wooden boards about 5' tall proclaim, "Caution," and then, "Walkway" with arrows pointing both to the right and the left. Thankfully, students now know not to continuously and futilely walk straight into the boards. It is crucial that the University take the necessary steps in order to protect the student body. It is also important, however, that the University does not maintain meaningless security measures. If book thefts really are a problem at the library, then the searches must obviously be made more thorough. Otherwise, students shouldn't have to open their backpacks. If the McNeil authorities really don't want people coming in at night or over the weekend, then they should get rid of the doorbell. If it isn't much of a problem, as it doesn't seem to be, then the doors should not be locked. As for the dorms, if there is a big concern about people using other students' PennCards, then the security officers should check the picture before allowing the person through. If not, students should be allowed to swipe the cards themselves. Finally, as for Steinberg-Dietrich, that alarm should just be turned off. Security is one thing. Pointless nuisances are another.