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Volume 41, Issue 7
December 2, 2003
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December 2, 2003
Cameras newest tool to curb campus crime
Security increases watch
Nick Martin
Mesa Legend
You are being watched – or soon will be.
MCC is planning to install high-tech digital security cameras around campus
and in the school’s parking lots before January, a move that college
officials hope will reduce auto thefts and break-ins.
MCC’s director of college safety, Steve Corich, said the plan has
been a long time coming. He said the college has been talking about installing
the security cameras for a few years, long before he was hired just over
a year ago.
“The previous director was not technologically savvy,” Corich
said.
That, coupled with the lengthy time the college took to hire a new safety
director, has made MCC the last college in the district to install security
cameras, said Corich.
Corich is now looking forward. He is sure the new cameras, once installed,
will help reduce crime at MCC.
Corich said 98 percent of campus crimes are property related, such as
vandalism, car stereo theft and auto theft. He said the cameras aren’t
meant to help campus security officers catch criminals, but should reduce
crime or stop the crimes from ever taking place.
His theory is that potential car thieves or vandals will see security
cameras or the signs that read, “This campus is under 24-hour surveillance,”
and will just simply go elsewhere.
Jeremy James, college safety director at Scottsdale Community College,
has seen that theory in action.
He recounted an incident a few years back when Scottsdale police caught
some car thieves taking a vehicle from Scottsdale Pavilions. “They
told police they came onto our campus first, saw the signs and went elsewhere
– and got caught elsewhere,” he said.
James said SCC saw a significant drop in crimes after cameras were installed
in 1993.
The number of incidents fell from just over 90 in 1992 to around 50 when
the cameras were installed.
He said his security team watches the cameras 24-7, looking for strange
behavior such as cars driving around the parking lots multiple times,
passing empty parking spots over and over.
In the 10 years the school has had cameras, the SCC security team has
used them to catch everything from a prowler digging through cabinets
in the school’s information office to an angry boyfriend setting
fire his girlfriend’s car.
Ron Etter, MCC’s dean of administrative services, said he hopes
the cameras will have the same effect at MCC.
According to Etter, MCC will spend close to $250,000 to install the new
camera system at both the Southern and Dobson and Red Mountain campuses.
Etter said the college received bids from multiple companies.
Also, going with what Etter calls the school’s “forward-thinking”
attitude, the camera system will use the newest technology available.
Cameras will all be digital, connected to the school’s computer
network, accessible in the college safety office on three plasma screen
monitors and viewable from any other computer with a password that only
a select few faculty members will have. Videos will all be saved digitally
and can be burned to DVD or used to print pictures.
Etter said that it is important for the college to stay ahead of the technology
curve. “I think our students require it,” he said, “and
certainly our community requires it.”
At SCC, James insists that security cameras are no substitute for actual
human beings. He said SCC would never use cameras as a substitute for
certified officers.
“It’s a tool, not a replacement,” he said.
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