The blue-light phone system -- an integral component of the University's overall security plan -- is undergoing significant renovations.
In about two weeks, the University will spend approximately $48,000 to install six new phones, and Penn is continuing to work to integrate new technology into existing phones. The plan calls for the new phones to be placed along the Market Street corridor between 33rd and 40th streets.
Though the system is receiving upgrades and expansions at the cost of $8,000 dollars per phone, the benefits of these efforts are still to be seen.
The University has seen a marked decrease in crime since the installation of cellular-based blue-light phones in 1996 -- hardwire blue-light phones have been on campus since the late 1970s -- but there are no specific data that indicate whether the phones themselves contributed to the trend. Currently, there are 67 cellular and 115 hardwire phones on campus.
Additionally, some students claim they are unfamiliar with the system and the locations of the phones. Indeed, at least several of the hardwire phones installed prior to 1996 are either overgrown or in areas not frequented by Penn students.
Yet Director of Security and Technical Services Domenic Ceccanecchio said the Department of Public Safety is sure that the phones are worth the expense.
"We don't count exactly how many times they use them, but we know they use them," Ceccanecchio said. "It is another way for people to communicate with police, so do I think it is worth the investment? Of course."
Ceccanecchio said the decrease in crime cannot be attributed the phones alone, but rather to a holistic security approach.
"No one would dare say that the 50 percent decrease in crime was because of the phones or because of the cameras or because of the police," Ceccanecchio said. "It was all of the above. ... There is no exact way of saying how much impact the phones had; it is the whole program."
Because calls from blue-light phones receive the same response as any 511 emergency call from a University phone, the police do not keep records of how often they are used.
The only difference between dialing from a blue-light phone and doing so from a non-emergency phone is that in the former case a dispatcher can determine where the caller is standing through a location-identifying program. Furthermore, the dispatcher can attempt to see the caller on closed circuit television cameras that are positioned throughout campus.
However, unlike the hardwire and analog cellular phones that are currently installed, the new phones will incorporate digital technologies.
The new phones will be placed at the intersections of Market and 40th, 39th, 34th, 33rd and 32nd streets.
A date for the installation has not yet been set.
"We are working with the manufacturer to schedule an exact date," Ceccanecchio said. "The phones are being shipped and ... we are working to coordinate the training with the installations. I would expect within the next two to four weeks the phones would be out there."
The Department of Public Safety hopes to continue installing the cellular phones at a rate of six per year, and all phones installed from now on will be of the digital cellular variety.
"Digital is the way all the carriers are going," Ceccanecchio said. "Eventually, analog is going to be obsolete."
Additional benefits of the digital phones include improvement in voice quality and less interference with other electronic devices.
Despite the extent of the renovations, students for the most part remain unaware of the efforts.
Student Complaints
College freshman and Undergraduate Assembly member Clara Bracke said that the UA heard from students at the beginning of the year that some were dissatisfied with the system.
In response, Bracke met with Ceccanecchio and determined that the dilemma may not be the system itself, but rather a lack of student awareness.
"After talking with him, I felt that the system we have in place is actually a very good one," Bracke said. "It is very well thought out and ... other schools are looking into our system as a model. We thought that the best way to move forward was to educate the students on how to use the system."
Bracke said a University-wide e-mail would be sent out this week to increase student knowledge of the phones. She said that if students continue to feel uncomfortable, she will then take further action to ensure that students feel safe.
"It is hard to say what we would do now," Bracke said, "but anything from sitting down with Domenic and trying to brainstorm. It depends what people say. [The e-mail] is just the major information that people will find useful. If it is really long and extensive, then people won't read it. Our goal is just to help the students."
College freshman Caroline Dorfman -- who said she once used a blue-light phone at Brown University to contact an ambulance -- said she is unaware of where the phones are located on Penn's campus.
"I was there for a summer program, so they really enforced where [the blue-light phones] are," Dorfman said, explaining that campus officials made repeated mentions of the phones. "But here, no one has ever told me."
In collaboration with the UA, Ceccanecchio said he hopes to consolidate a list of phone locations to publish online. Still, the process is difficult because the University is constantly in the process of replacing old phones and installing new ones.
Long-Term Renovations
Since the hardwire phones have been in existence for almost a decade, many have almost become unusable. Some are covered by landscaping, and others are located in areas that are not commonly used by students anymore.
"The hardwire phones were placed in obscure places," Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush said. "A lot of the old ones installed are now covered, overgrown. It is not conducive to good security to have phones in that area. Some people will complain that they don't think they are bright enough."
The reason that so many phones are no longer viable for practical use is a change in the general footpath of University community members, Rush said.
Such a change also necessitates phones in places that were previously unfrequented by community members, such as the area near Market Street.
"The reason is the growth of the Penn employees and students that are using the Market Street corridor," Rush said. "Especially since 1997, this has been a long-term planning process that we look at every year."
Security leaders are also looking to put more phones on the east side of campus around the athletic areas, close to the Schuylkill River.
Already, there are seven cellular phones located southeast of the University in areas where hardwire phones could not have been installed.
The existence of both digital and analog cellular phones rather than hardwire phones alleviates the responsibilities of security forces as well, as personnel do not have to constantly check the phones for malfunctions.
The phones are self-diagnostic and send an error report to the police every 24 hours to report any signs of malfunction.
Currently, Allied Security officers and patrols check all hardwire phones at least once per week to ensure that they are functioning properly.
When a phone breaks, it should be repaired within 24 hours.
Typical problems range from equipment failure to the lack of solar power for the cellular phones -- though an internal battery will sustain them for three to four days.
Though Penn hopes to eventually convert all of its analog phones to digital, Ceccanecchio said what is most important presently is to continue installing new phones.
"We'll start slowly over time to start upgrading that technology to digital," Ceccanecchio said. "There is nothing wrong with the analog phones; the digital is just where technology is going."
Penn does not plan to remove or change any of the hardwire phones, however, unless they are in very close proximity to a new cellular one.
Meanwhile, the Department of Public Safety is exploring programs which would install self-checking devices into the hardwire phones.
"If it is in the immediate vicinity of one of the new phones, 40 to 50 feet as a loose rule, we will remove the hardwire phones," Ceccanecchio said. "It is a judgment call."
Security administrators said that new phones themselves are only one aspect of revamping of the system.
The location of the phones will also be key.
"We adopted a strategy so that no one would have to memorize the location of the phones." Ceccanecchio said. "We would install them at every major intersection. They are now about every half block and at every major intersection."
To the extent possible, the phones are located in the northwest corner of a given intersection, and they can generally be seen from a block to a block and a half away, Ceccanecchio said.
Additionally, corner locations allow dispatchers to more easily identify callers on closed-circuit TV.
"When we developed CCTV, it could pick up several phones in one area," Rush said.
Because CCTV is used in conjunction with the location identification system, Ceccanecchio said students in a precarious situation can pick up a phone without speaking into it and continue walking.
"We always dispatch," he said. "And don't worry about using the phone. If you feel uncomfortable ... staying at the phone, if you just activate the phones, we dispatch someone."
Ceccancecchio said students should not feel reluctant to use the phones and that they should feel welcome to discuss any concerns about the phones with the Department of Public Safety. Tonight, the DPS will be holding a colloquium with students to receive input on campus security issues.
With many students currently unaware of the system and the current renovations, discussions of the system and its effectiveness are sure to unfold.
