Loyola, El Camino CC, UW and Illinois Upgrading Campus Security

Loyola University Maryland, Universities of Washington and Illinois and El Camino Community College are upgrading their campus security tech.

Colleges across the nation continue to bolster campus security with a wide variety of measures, including video surveillance, dispatch, contract security officers, intrusion alarms, and even drones.

Loyola University Maryland was recently awarded a $450,000 grant from the Maryland Higher Education Commission to improve security on the school’s Evergreen campus, according to a press release from Loyola. The grant will pay for a new public safety dispatch operations console and distributed antenna system (DAS) on two buildings on campus to boost cell service.

The new dispatch operations console will enable Loyola police officers to better support the safety of the campus. It will also enhance their ability to monitor Belvedere Square, where the Loyola Clinical Centers are located. The DAS cell booster technology will be installed in the DeChiaro College Center and the Francis Xavier Knott, S.J., Knott Humanities Center and will improve cell service for emergency calls.

In Torrance, Calif., the El Camino College Board of Trustees approved the installation of new cameras in the Small Business Development Center on October 21, reports the EC Union. The board also approved the installation of an updated intrusion alarm system.

The total cost of the upgrades will be $102,032. The cameras will cost $19,820.24, and the computer connected to the cameras will cost $18,904. The intrusion alarm system will cost $63,308.15.

The upgraded intrusion alarm system will now enable incidents to be directly reported to campus police rather than to a third party. El Camino CC’s new system will also better secure the school’s financial documents and cash, as well as reduce response times by law enforcement.

UW Bolsters Campus Security with Contract Officers

At the University of Washington, UWPD has increased the security presence on campus by adding contract security officers from Seattle’s Finest Security, reports the Daily. The increase was prompted by recent assaults and harassment incidents on campus.

Members of the campus community also expressed concerns about their safety, which also was a factor in increasing security officer deployment on campus.

In Urbana-Champaign, the University of Illinois has partnered with drone developer SkySafe to provide drone security services at Illini football games, according to a press release from the company. The partnership is a two-year extension of a previous contract with the company.

The SkySafe technology is used to monitor authorized and unauthorized drone flights occurring in the school’s airspace. According to the company, in the past year it provided the University of Illinois “visibility into over 7,500 drone flights in its airspace.”

This enabled the school to provide documentation and details that led to the prosecution of the unauthorized drone operator.

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