Sep 1, 2005
12:00 PM, By Carol Carey
IN RECENT
YEARS, safety and security issues have been front and center at
many of the nation's colleges and universities. Security issues
are magnified when tragedy strikes on campus. Rare events such
as the murder of a student on or near campus can send shock waves
throughout the country.
Such was the
case when murder claimed the lives of two University of North
Carolina (UNC) at Wilmington students in 2004. In an effort to
be proactive and to reduce the likelihood of such an incident
occurring at its campus, East Carolina University (ECU) in Greenville,
part of the UNC system, upgraded both its electronic security
and safety education programs.
ECU has a
total enrollment of nearly 23,000, with about 5,300 students living
in 15 campus-run residence halls. There are approximately 4,000
staff and faculty. The campus spans almost 1,400 acres and is
divided into three areas — the main campus, with academic,
research and residential space; the Health Sciences Campus, which
includes the Brody School of Medicine; and the West Research Campus,
which includes administrative and support buildings as well as
additional School of Medicine facilities. There is also the 745-bed
Pitt County Memorial Hospital.
Security had
been strong at ECU before upgrades in 2004 and 2005 made it even
stronger. Then, as now, a full-service police department is on
constant alert. Presently consisting of more than 50 certified
officers, 10 telecommunicators (who operate the security monitors
and perform dispatching functions) and seven full-time support
service personnel; the police department has a foot patrol, vehicle
patrol, bicycle patrol and investigations and extra event scheduling
teams.
A video surveillance
system was already in place that focused on parking lots and the
pool area of Minges Coliseum. The upgrade has added video surveillance
to the residence halls, with the pre-existing cameras combined
into the new system.
Captain J.P.
Smith of the ECU Police Department now heads the new Department
of Campus Safety (DCS) as director. Sergeant Amy Davis is the
crime prevention specialist, educating students, faculty and staff
in safety and crime prevention techniques.
Annette Parker
is the DCS administrative assistant. Parker also functions as
a technical specialist overseeing the network of surveillance
cameras covering the residence halls and parking lots. Parker
makes recommendations as to the type of cameras needed for particular
purposes and their placement.
Video surveillance
expands
As part of its proactive approach, ECU decided to upgrade its
electronic security. A system of 105 new video cameras was installed
in the summer of 2004 at the residence halls. Most of the cameras
are Panasonic WV-CW474S day/night color fixed cameras, which have
been placed just inside each resident hall building. “The
camera picks you up once you enter,” Parker says.
According
to Barry Allen, president, Allen Security of Wendell, N.C., the
cameras' low-light capability provides a superior picture in dim-and
low-light situations.
“We
used Panasonic's Super Dynamic II (SDII) wide dynamic range cameras,”
says Allen, the installer/integrator for the video system installation,
“They also have back-light compensation. Most college residence
hall entrances have glass doors, which create a dark image with
bright background, which otherwise would obscure or prevent identification.”
Seven Panasonic
cameras have been placed at exteriors of residence halls, most
of them pan/tilt/zoom WV-CW864A. “These cameras cover parking
lots and areas in which there are bicycle racks,” Smith
says. “We have students walking through these areas at all
times, and we wanted to be proactive regarding their personal
safety. Bicycles are at risk; they can be an object of larceny.
There has been some car-related theft and vandalism, and parking
decals have also become an ‘item of choice.’”
The camera
system also uses seven Panasonic WJ-HD316 digital video recorders
(DVRs), each with 1.5 terabytes of storage. Video data is transmitted
across a fiber-optic network and then routed through coaxial cable
to a video distribution amplifier. From there it is sent to the
DVRs and the Pelco 9670 matrix switcher. The video data is then
viewed by telecommunicators operating three 20-inch monitors and
two 42-inch Panasonic monitors at the police department's telecommunications
center, Parker says. Another 42-inch monitor will be added soon.
“The
switcher allows the monitors to pick up any camera point individually,”
Parker says. “We have dedicated one monitor for viewing
trouble spots. There are about three others to which the recorders
are dedicated.”
“To
add an extra set of eyes for the cameras, we are setting up additional
Neighborhood Service Officer (NSO) offices, which will be able
to monitor the residence halls in their section of campus,”
Smith says. “These offices are staffed by students and regular
staff. We already have two of these, one on the West Side of campus,
one on the East or College Hill side. The offices are open until
2 a.m. and are available for students in emergencies.”
Cameras for
crime prevention
One area of concern for campus police and security personnel is
downtown Greenville, which borders the west side of ECU's campus.
“We have an open campus, and people who don't have our best
interests in mind sometimes wander onto campus from downtown,”
Smith says.
“We
have a brand new dining facility on the west end of campus with
a large outdoor mall area surrounding it and several residence
areas nearby. We will be adding six additional surveillance cameras
at this area.” The new cameras, like those installed in
2004, will be Panasonic WV-CW474S fixed and WV-CW864A pan/tilt/zoom.
Smith adds that current plans are for an NSO office to monitor
these cameras.
Existing cameras
have already been successful in helping fight crime. “We
had an armed robbery downtown in one of our parking lots,”
Smith says. “Six men accosted a student. The event was captured
on camera as it occurred, and our police department responded
immediately. The robbery failed.
“We
have foiled or responded immediately to several other incidents.
We have been fortunate in terms of making arrests immediately
after incidents, which we attribute primarily to cameras being
present. We have made arrests during break-ins of residence halls.
In one case, a man rammed himself through a plate-glass door.
A camera picked this up, and we responded immediately. Cameras
have also picked up and allowed us to respond to drug users.”
Fiber-optic
architecture
A specially designed fiber-optic architecture has ensured maximum
efficiency of the video surveillance system. Allen, along with
Ed Miskovic, vice president for sales and marketing for Meridian
Technologies, Elmont, N.Y. designed the system using two dedicated
fibers on ECU's network.
“We
had a large number of video signals to transmit from one location
to another, and a small number of fibers with which to accomplish
this,” Miskovic says. “We had only two fibers available
to us that could be dedicated for this security system. We use
one of these fibers to transmit pan/tilt/zoom control data and
network diagnostics. The second fiber transmits video data from
the cameras.
“To
transmit this data, we are using Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing
(CWDM) technology. This technology involves sending video signals
over different wavelengths, which are then combined by an optical
multiplexer onto one single-mode fiber and transmitted to a central
data area.”
At ECU, groups
of up to eight residence halls are assigned to a single “node”
location. Each residence hall transmits its video signals (from
up to eight cameras each) at a different wavelength to this location.
At the node location, the different wavelengths are combined by
the optical multiplexer box module. They are then sent to the
Telecommunications Center over one single-mode fiber. ECU currently
has about five node locations it is using; each location controls
between two and five buildings.
“Without
the CWDM technology, you would not be able to transmit more than
eight video signals over one single-mode fiber. With the technology,
you can transmit up to 64 signals over a single fiber,”
Miskovic says.
Meridian's
DigiFlex products were chosen for the system, according to Miskovic,
who says the products “have excellent versatility and signal
flexibility.”
At the Telecommunications
Center, the video is connected to an optical de-multiplexer, which
separates the wavelengths. The output of each of these wavelengths
then goes to an eight-channel receiver and then to a video distribution
amplifier. From the amplifier, data is sent to DVRs and to the
Pelco matrix switcher, Miskovic says.
Further safety
measures
Residence halls are locked at all times, Smith says. A Best Access
Systems key lock system is used. Call boxes outside the residence
hall doors are used by visitors who wish to gain access. Other
security measures at ECU include an extensive system of approximately
78 blue lights and call boxes by Gai-Tronics. Some buildings,
in addition, are protected by a Siemens access control system.
These include main campus administrative buildings, the School
of Medicine and the new Science and Technology building.
A strong focus
of the Department of Campus Safety will be education. “After
the UNC-Wilmington incidents, we decided to be proactive in educating
students, staff and faculty on safety,” says Smith, citing
the formation of the new Department of Campus Safety this past
spring. “It will focus on crime prevention through a series
of safety workshops and forums.”
With its combination
of enhanced safety measures, regional safety centers and state-of-the
art electronic security, ECU has established a strong proactive
approach to campus safety that can take it well into the future.
