2008 Woodie Awards
Campus safety discussed at Senate meeting
Allan Lewis
Issue date: 10/23/07 Section: News
Safety was a primary concern at the Student Senate meeting Friday afternoon in the Morris University Center's Goshen Lounge as Chief of Police Regina Hays and Vice Chancellor of Administration Kenn Neher were on hand to discuss the matter.
Hays and Neher shared statistical information from within the police department regarding response times to Cougar Village and residence halls, crime on campus and job openings within the force.
"Usually in emergency situations it takes police 3.6 minutes to respond to Cougar and 1.64 to the residence halls," Hays said.
For non-emergency calls the average response time is 5.71 minutes to CV and 5.25 minutes to residence halls.
Since the beginning of the calendar year, SIUE Police have done 15,510 building checks and worked on 1,846 case numbers, many dealing with vehicle burglaries and hangtag theft.
While car theft has been a problem at SIUE, Hays noted that it is a widespread problem and is not isolated to this campus.
"This is not just an SIUE problem, but is something all the metropolitan areas around us are dealing with as well," Hays said. "This semester, a lot of vehicles are being left unlocked or the windows are left down while valuables are left in plain sight."
The introduction of security cameras in parking lots is something Neher told the Senate the university is looking into to combat the high number of break-ins, which have totaled 25 this semester, including hangtag thefts.
"It is something we have done research on and it needs to be considered very carefully," he said.
According to Hays, the majority of break-ins have occurred in the residence hall lots because residents are parked there overnight and "the cover of darkness is an incentive."
Neher said he would like to address the Senate at a later date to discuss the possibility of security cameras in parking lots.
The police force consists of 31 officers, 22 of which work at the Edwardsville campus with the remaining nine stationed at the higher education campus in East St.Louis.
Hays and Neher shared statistical information from within the police department regarding response times to Cougar Village and residence halls, crime on campus and job openings within the force.
"Usually in emergency situations it takes police 3.6 minutes to respond to Cougar and 1.64 to the residence halls," Hays said.
For non-emergency calls the average response time is 5.71 minutes to CV and 5.25 minutes to residence halls.
Since the beginning of the calendar year, SIUE Police have done 15,510 building checks and worked on 1,846 case numbers, many dealing with vehicle burglaries and hangtag theft.
While car theft has been a problem at SIUE, Hays noted that it is a widespread problem and is not isolated to this campus.
"This is not just an SIUE problem, but is something all the metropolitan areas around us are dealing with as well," Hays said. "This semester, a lot of vehicles are being left unlocked or the windows are left down while valuables are left in plain sight."
The introduction of security cameras in parking lots is something Neher told the Senate the university is looking into to combat the high number of break-ins, which have totaled 25 this semester, including hangtag thefts.
"It is something we have done research on and it needs to be considered very carefully," he said.
According to Hays, the majority of break-ins have occurred in the residence hall lots because residents are parked there overnight and "the cover of darkness is an incentive."
Neher said he would like to address the Senate at a later date to discuss the possibility of security cameras in parking lots.
The police force consists of 31 officers, 22 of which work at the Edwardsville campus with the remaining nine stationed at the higher education campus in East St.Louis.
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