N.C. colleges try new security tools

by Ian Wojciechowska, The Chronicle

A recent flux of crimes at campuses across the state has prompted several universities to employ new technological gadgets to upgrade their security systems.

Duke officials are keeping an eye open for opportunities to improve safety, but the Duke University Police Department is not talking about changing current security measures. There is some tentative testing of a device that makes a laptop go into a “lockdown” and renders its hard drive useless if it is being used “suspiciously” or moved around too much, but officials have not taken any steps toward implementing the device.

“We don’t have any concrete plans right now, but we are maintaining an awareness of what’s out there and how that applies to Duke,” said Leanora Minai, senior public relations specialist for DUPD.

Other schools across the state are more active in this area and working toward changing security within the next semester.

Students at East Carolina University in Greenville might soon be carrying another piece of paraphernalia in their pockets along with their keys and student identification cards. Director of the ECU Technology Advancement Center J. Barry Duvall and his staff have been working on a wireless transmitting system activated through panic buttons on keychains.

When a student presses the button, it sends a signal to a nearby blue-light help post, which in turn sends a signal directly to the police department. These tailored key-fobs allow the police to know the exact location of a student in danger and the student’s identifying information and medical conditions.

At ECU, phase one of the project, which established the theoretical aspects of the safety system, has ended. Now, before the technology can be put into play, various vendors must review submitted proposals, and the whole thing still awaits administrative approval.

An inevitable obstacle is finance. “My dream is that people in different universities and communities will come together on this so we can get the cost in,” Duvall said, noting that the technology is “very expensive.”

At Wake Forest University, the community has been working with the university in order to keep crime statistics low the past few years, said Bruce Sanspree, special projects coordinator for the Wake Forest police department.

Wake Forest has a “sort of comprehensive approach” to student safety, he said. In addition to blue help lights and wireless access to the police department, the University has an array of safety awareness classes and facilities and police-manned gates at its entrances that can be closed to prohibit car entrance.

Wake Forest is also dabbling in advanced technology and working on two innovative security projects. A pilot program is underway in which expensive belongings are tagged with devices that trigger an alarm if an item is moved into an “unauthorized” area. Another research project, in collaboration with IBM, involves telephonics and looks at combining wireless capabilities with telephone connectivity.

“There’s not one simple magic trick to do that makes crime go away,” Sanspree said. “You have to incorporate all these things together.”