With an extra $5 million in hand, the Division of Public Safety has finalized its plan to put the money to use.
University President Amy Gutmann pledged the money less than a week after the Jan. 16 shooting of Engineering sophomore Mari Oishi near 38th and Walnut streets. Oishi, hit in the leg by a stray bullet, was not gravely injured.
Calling its initiative Operation Safe, the division plans to use the 22 percent budget increase specifically to expand the Penn police force, develop technology and enhance lighting around campus.
Public safety officials intend to hire 15 more officers, increasing the total number to 116. Interviews for the positions are taking place.
Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush said that the division will also promote six new sergeants and one new lieutenant from within the police force.
Officials will also double the number of security guards on patrol between 5 p.m. and 5 a.m., as well as shifting those patrols so that they are concentrated in higher-risk areas.
All security guards will receive florescent yellow uniforms in order to increase their visibility.
Rush said that safety officials want to ensure that the area between Market Street and Baltimore Avenue and between 30th and 43rd streets is patrolled properly.
"We want to make sure that we build both an outer perimeter and inner perimeter," she said.
The University also plans to add eight new closed-circuit surveillance cameras to protect the Veterinary School on Baltimore Avenue and the University City Science Center on Market Street, which is not owned by but is closely affiliated with Penn.
There will be four new cameras on Baltimore Avenue, three on Market Street and one at the corner of 38th and Chestnut streets, bringing the total number of cameras on campus to 76.
Officials say they will also continue to use two electric carts to monitor the campus between 5 p.m. and 5 a.m.
In a three-phase plan, the University has been increasing the amount of lighting around campus, working to install new lamp posts in the area between Market Street and Baltimore Avenue and between 40th and 43rd streets.
The University is sharing costs with both the Science Center and Drexel University to extend lighting to 30th Street.
The second phase of the plan includes the installation of lamp posts with brighter, "brown round" bulbs in areas near campus owned by the city.
The third phase focuses on campus lighting by upgrading facilities owned by the University and working with local landlords to install lanterns and floodlights around campus.
