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Camera system will keep watch over UH

$150,000 system part of security improvements for fall

By Jennifer Brzowski
The Daily Cougar

The UH Police Department has new members who are all less than 3 feet tall.

Despite their diminutive height, UHPD anticipates the new squad will play a key role in crime prevention -- a squad composed of surveillance cameras installed by the University as the first phase of an effort to improve campus security.

Associate Vice President for Plant Operations David Irvin said cameras have already been installed in Parking Lot 1A, and that installation in lots 18 and 20 is under way.

Irvin said the $150,000 camera system and more than $100,000 in new lighting will be installed on campus before the beginning of the fall semester. The cameras are exterior-mounted and placed at varying heights, Irvin said.

"Some are higher to oversee a whole lot, some are lower or have telephoto lenses to see facial features or do close-up observations," he said. "Most of the cameras are tied to electrical sources (and) have a backup battery so they can run for a while without power."

Additional locations for cameras are being considered based on input from the Student Government Association. SGA President Jon Quintanilla said the student Senate identified some areas of campus it felt needed attention, then met with Wilson to compare those with high-crime areas.

"Some of these were found to be the same areas the Senate was concerned with," Quintanilla said.

Wilson said cameras installed on a trial basis on the top of the Moody Towers and in the Towers Commons have been a success.

"We've been able to catch several auto thieves and a robbery suspect," Wilson said. "Aside from the robber, we caught someone catching fire to a picnic table ... (and) a student putting his foot through a wall in the Moody Towers lobby."

Irvin said previous security cameras lacked the quality to identify potential muggers and would-be Spider-Men and, unlike the new system, they weren't directly connected with the police department.

"The dream is that someday we'll have what we call a 'virtual patrol system' where someone can sit in a room and he or she can monitor any suspicious activity, and they'll have immediate contact with officers on patrol and can relay information," Wilson said.

He said the feed from the cameras will be monitored at certain times based on statistical data, but it will constantly be videotaped. Meanwhile, Wilson said the department wants to let people know they're being watched.

"We're very conscious of keeping (the cameras) as innocuous as possible, but we want to put signage up that would hopefully warn off those who would want to rob our cars, and also reassure students that we are being vigilant," he said.

Psychology and communication junior Sequoia Houston participated in a night tour of the campus with SGA senators, students, University administrators, Board of Regents members, UH police officers and representatives from the Physical Plant to pinpoint security concerns.

"The thing that I liked about the tour was the fact that they invited students to participate and got their reactions, since the changes affect students the most directly," Houston said. "It's stuff like that -- when you see improvements being made -- that makes you feel a little better about spending so much money."
 

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