By Meridith Laden

There are some noticeable new additions all around CU’s campus this year. But the additions that are the least noticeable may be the most important ones.

Campus safety has installed new surveillance cameras and a new emergency telephone. While these additions aren’t always the most eye-catching or crowd pleasing, they are the ones that keep our campus safe.

For several years, there have been emergency phones on CU’s campus. These blue colored emergency phones are located in various indoor and outdoor locations around CU.

 Outdoor emergency phone locations include the commuter parking lot, the parking lot outside the Bernice Hansen Center, and the back of the Bernice Hansen Center near the pond.

Other indoor emergency phones are located throughout campus buildings.

The newest emergency phone is located near Leonard St. just off the path surrounding the pond.

“The Leonard Street side location was elected due to the new pond walkway and because of the distance away from the center of our campus”, said Richard Honholt, Director of the Department of Campus Safety.

Each phone can be identified by blue paint or blue reflective tape.  Also, each phone is equipped with instructions for use and emergency contact numbers.

“We are trying to reasonably dot the campus with interior or exterior phones for use in emergencies,” Honholt said.

CU’s campus safety department is taking a proactive approach to prevent incidents before they happen by adding new systems of surveillance cameras.  Honholt has played a very active role in obtaining surveillance cameras for the CU community’s safety.

“When God placed me here about 7 years ago I felt we needed to install surveillance cameras,” Honholt said. “The technology is readily available and inexpensive, so we put it on the list,” Honholt said.

Since then, CU has purchased and installed cameras as donors or individual department budgets have allowed.

”We’ve been really creative with the budget,” Honholt said. There are currently 6 buildings and 2 special areas on campus equipped with cameras. CU is hoping for more funding for more surveillance cameras in order to ensure that the entire campus has camera coverage.

Bryan Johnston, the Director of Information Systems Operations Services and Support and his team assisted Honholt in selecting the camera units.

Information Systems also provided the labor for wiring and installing the surveillance equipment in the various buildings.

”We trained Richard Honholt in how to operate the systems and now he runs them,” Johnston said.

Each camera system has its own monitor that displays what the cameras are capturing. The footage caught by each system of cameras is fitted with DV+R recording equipment so footage can be monitored and reviewed if necessary.

“The camera system locations were determined by the security needs of the staff departments and students,” Johnston said, “Places that are secluded or have minimal foot traffic are monitored by cameras.”

Students interviewed were unaware of the security cameras and new telephone on campus. “I didn’t know,” said CU sophomore Melissa Vanleeuen, “but I feel safer now!” 

Another CU student, Jon-Michael Jones had not heard of the new safety additions on campus. “I feel safer being on CU’s campus knowing they have installed the new security system,” Jones said.

“It is important for our community members to understand that surveillance cameras are not big brother or sister interfering or spying on our community or our community citizens,” Richard Honholt said.  Rather, these surveillance cameras are for practical use to prevent those with ill intent and for use in post incident investigation.