The Office of Residence Life Education and Housing and the ACU Police Department began working together this summer to equip all residence life dorms with security camera systems to benefit campus security.
John Delony, assistant dean for Residence Life and Education, said the project, which is expected to be finished within the next month or so, will not be complete until all residence hall facilities have full security camera systems set in place.
“We aren’t doing it to track the coming and going of students, it is more about safety and it allows students to know they are in a safe place,” Delony said.
Partial systems have been in place in Sikes, Barrett and Mabee Halls for the past five or so years, and new systems will be added to the remaining halls.
“It is one more layer ACU is putting on for the safety of students,” Delony said. “It’s easy to take it for granted; many assume that nothing can go wrong on a Christian campus.”
Delony said installing cameras is something he has wanted to do for a while and this past year they were finally able to fund the project.
“I’ve felt since I got here, that I would feel safer with our students having a secure camera system,” Delony said. “We take security pretty seriously. I’ve never heard someone say they wish we didn’t have cameras, and the student surveys about how safe they feel here always come back astronomically high.”
Delony said desk managers at each of the dorms will have access to a monitor that displays footage from external cameras, which enables them to alert ACU Police of any suspicious activity they observe going on outside of the dorms. The rest of the cameras, such as hall and lobby cameras, can only be accessed through the ACU Police Department.
“The police department controls access to the system,”said Jimmy Ellison, chief of police and director of public safety. “We are using it for investigative efforts only and access is very highly restricted.”
Ellison said the cameras will primarily be used by the ACU Police for investigative leads to crimes that occur, which will give them critical evidence regarding the crime. External cameras will cover all areas where an intruder may gain entry into the buildings. Cameras will also assist in deterring burglaries of cars and dorm rooms and will be a necessary tool should a critical incident, such as a school shooting or abduction, occur on campus.
“I think this is a great example of ACU’s commitment to a safer campus and also ResLife’s commitment to providing the best residence halls they can,” Ellison said.
Other camera systems on campus can be found in the Student Recreation and Wellness Center, the Campus Center and in dining areas. Ellison said there are plans to add a few cameras to select locations on campus that will afford the ACU Police Department a broad view of certain parking areas where they have had problems with car burglaries in the past.
Ellison said funding is always tight, but he would like to expand the camera system even more and have full systems in parking lots and in other administrative and academic buildings in the future.
“It’s my sincere hope that students view this as ACU and the police department’s commitment to providing as safe an atmosphere as we can for them to live and learn in,” Ellison said. “Unfortunately, I think today’s society necessitates the need for you to have certain tools in your arsenal, and camera systems are one of those tools.”
