LETTERS: Hand scanners would improve dorm safety

To the Editor: While we at Public Safety recognize that there is no record of serious criminal incidents within residential buildings, we also feel that the lack of such events is due, in part, to luck. We believe that the current process -- a security officer checking ID cards -- while good, is far from foolproof. It is also labor-intensive and not cost-effective. The combined technology of cardreader and biometric reader which the portal will provide is being introduced as a proactive step toward improved security. Although biometric technology may be new here, it has been used successfully elsewhere for years. From the outset, we've had a dialogue with Housing and Residential Life representatives about this project. It has always been our intention to include students in the evaluation process during the pilot period. We are all looking for objective feedback from residents of the building. While we are hopeful that the pilot in Hamilton College House is a success, we are continuously looking for better ways to provide the safest residential environment possible using technological and human resources in the most efficient way. Yes, our residential buildings are reasonably safe. We want to keep them that way. Stratis Skoufalos Director of Security Services Division of Public Safety u To the Editor: I applaud Penn's efforts to improve security in the dorms, but I think that the approach being taken (installing high-tech equipment) is wrong. While some improvements in technology are certainly necessary, the problem is not the system, but rather the students themselves. I have personally witnessed students signing in strangers that just stood by the front desk and asked anyone walking in to sign them in. Once, when I approached the student to remind him that he was responsible for the person's actions, he simply shrugged his shoulders as if he didn't care. This was not an isolated incident -- I have seen and heard of many such cases over the years. No amount of high-tech equipment can help in this case. All it takes is a few clueless Penn students to bypass any amount of security you can set up. Unless you ban students from signing someone in (obviously an impossible task), any system is potentially fatally flawed. The only real solution is to educate the students about the foolishness of signing in random strangers. Until that happens, no amount of technology can help. Sanjay Udani Engineering Doctoral Candid. '99 Poor Stouffer coverage To the Editor: I was appalled on all levels by your article last week detailing the cafeteria break-in ("Stouffer sacked in midnight break-in," DP, 10/21/98). I am a University City native, Penn employee, son of an alumna and as a senior at a Philadelphia public high school, an applicant to Penn. Aside from the events described, the whimsical tone of the article was deplorable. I would like to raise two questions to your publication and the University: If 10 West Philly kids were to find Stouffer unlocked and trash it, would their story have been told differently and more immediate actions taken? Also, why was the incident absent from your "crime report" section? I suppose it was not as important as someone losing $10 from their unattended wallet. Whichever university I end up attending, I sincerely hope to never come across a peer arrogant enough to suggest that the liability of a burglary be placed on the person who left the door unlocked or the window open. Hopefully, every kid's $500 bike was locked up tight while they were enjoying their eggs in haughtiness. James Walton Chats Employee Masterman High School '99