Residence Hall security
Andrea Silva, Senior Reporter, Jacqueline Kharouf, Senior Reporter
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"I feel pretty safe," said Tim Hemming, a freshman living in DeSmet Hall, when asked about the security in his Residence Hall., "There's usually someone sitting there [at the desk]. I'm not too concerned."
Amanda Simpson, a freshman living in O'Connell Hall, had similar comments on her security in O'Connell, "There have been no incidents that would make me feel unsafe. I can usually leave my door unlocked."
For Hemming and Simpson, it seems that the new levels of security have been effective at contributing to a greater sense of safety. Over the past few years, the approach to securing residence halls has been modified in the hopes of creating a safer environment for residents. These modifications include an increase in front-desk hours, the installation of a swipe card system, and a guest sign-in requirement.
According to Kristen Wall, assistant director for Residence Life at Regis University, safety and security of in residence halls is maintained by several exterior and interior measures. Video cameras monitor the exteriors of the residence halls and exit doors. These exterior doors are also kept locked, and the main doors are the only doors that can be entered with a swipe key card. Visitors to the residence halls (even students from other residence halls) are required to check in at the front desk.
Registering visitors and guests to the residence halls is an improvement from security last year, when visitors had no obligation to check in. Wall said, "We just want to be proactive. We know that college campuses can be vulnerable. We want to make sure our students are safe and take responsibility for their own safety by signing in their friends and guests."
In addition to the guest log, the residence halls are also monitored by desk clerks and Residence Assistants (RAs). These interior security measures have also been improved with an increase in shifts to include noon until 5 a.m. These personnel also make rounds of the buildings and keep records in a log-in book.
Director of Campus Safety Bill Williams says that the possibility of potential incidents has also been one of the factors that has led to the tightening of residence hall security. "We react not to just what happens here at Regis, but what happens at other campuses too," said Williams. He explained that there have been occurrences in Regis' residence halls that could have easily been more threatening than they actually were.
Williams cited one case from a few years ago when a student let a guest stay with her for about 3-4 weeks. The guest's overdue stay was not apparent to the professional Residence Life and Campus Safety.
Williams cited one case from a few years ago when a student let a guest stay with her for about 3-4 weeks. The guest's overdue stay was not apparent to the professional Residence Life and Campus Safety staff until the he began to act aggressively towards other residents. Once he was turned into the Denver Police Department, it was discovered that he actually had warrants out for his arrest from other states.
While this case did not directly influence the security changes that have been made this year, Williams says that it is an example of how even more threatening incidents could occur. Increased surveillance of who is going in and out of the dorms is expected to make the guest policy easier to enforce.
The installation of key cards in the dorms is another new security measure. According to Williams, the key cards contribute to more security because their ability to unlock doors is computer programmed. Thus, if a student loses a key, he/she only needs to report it so that it can be de-activated. This is a much cheaper and more efficient way to deal with key loss, considering that losing a regular key involves the hassle of changing the lock and getting a new key made.
Rachel Crowley is a resident assistant on the third floor of O'Connell Hall. She feels mostly content with the level of security in the residence halls; though she does say also the cooperation of residents is imperative. "I feel like [the residents] are safe when they follow the rules, because I think that the rules themselves probably couldn't be any better," said Crowley. Additionally, she and second floor O'Connell RA Kyle Beckert expressed a need for more camera surveillance, specifically of all of the entrances to O'Connell and the laundry room.
Williams says that camera coverage of the residence halls is the "most complete" on campus. There is coverage of the entryways, computer labs, and in some cases the immediate parking lot area. There are two cameras at the entrance of DeSmet Hall, one at the north doors and a recently added one at the south doors. Seven cameras provide coverage of West Hall, which Williams explains is because of West's more complicated U-shape that has more entries and exits.
While adding more camera coverage of residence halls would be a good thing, Williams says that this would not necessarily contribute to greater security. "Understand that one of the shortcomings of any surveillance system is that it is used in a reactive manner," he explained. "We don't have anybody dedicated to sitting there and watching the cameras all of the time. The closest thing to that is the desk clerks."
Williams added that a drawback of adding more cameras is that additional staff would have to be hired to watch them. For more complete coverage, Williams estimates that a minimum of two-three full-time, staff would be needed to monitor cameras.
Arlynne Simpson, a sophomore living in West Hall and a desk clerk for Residence Life, thinks that residence hall security is good, but could be improved, especially in regards to the guest log. "In the residence halls [guests] have to sign in, but that doesn't always go as planned. Most of the desk clerks don't know-the [residents] who live there and [those] who don't."
Of the students interviewed, most felt secure in their residence halls, but like Amanda Simpson, they felt that some of the measures could be improved. Simpson commented on the requirements to sign in visitors, including on-campus visitors from other residence halls, "It's just an inconvenience for people living on campus."
Tim Etzkorn, a resident of O'Connell Hall, mainly dislikes having to call who he is visiting whenever he just wants to go to another residence hall. "If it could be possible for our swipe cards to get us into DeSmet and vice versa, then it would be okay if we still had to sign in," said Etzkorn.
Other Colleges
The security measuresat Regis are similar to those used at other local universities. Lieutenant Tim McGraw, police administrator in the Department of Public Safety at the University of Colorado, Boulder, described the security for CU residence halls as consisting of two components: hardware and personnel. The hardware component includes 24-hour secured doors with either key cards or keys to open the doors, depending on the building. At night, only the main doors to the buildings are accessible for entry with keys or cards. The personnel component at CU incorporates a University Police Department, separate from the Boulder Police Department, which is comprised of non-commissioned security officers. Their task is to provide residence hall security by patrolling the halls either on foot or by car.
At CU, residence hall security does not include security cameras; however, there are hidden cameras in certain areas for police surveillance purposes. Like Regis, several of these security measures are fairly new and changes were made about two to three years ago because the old system, including one night clerk per residence hall, was proving to be ineffective.
Don Enloe, director of Campus Safety at the University of Denver, also described his university's residence hall security as a two part system. Like Regis and CU, the residence halls at DU are accessible by swipe card and the front desk is staffed throughout the day and night. DU also uses a guest log and requires that visitors to the residence halls who enter the building without an identification card to sign in at the front desk of that building. DU also has a force of non-police security officers to patrol the buildings, while RAs patrol the floors, usually from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
With progressing technology, residence hall security is becoming tighter and more efficient. Biometric devices such as hand print scanners and retina readers will likely be widespread commodities in the future. Some schools have already installed these new technologies in their residence halls. At the Denver campus of Johnson & Wales University, HandKey scanners guard the entrances of the school's three residence halls. The scanners are also placed at the entry of each wing. Students simply wave their hands through the scanner, and their door is unlocked for up to 20 seconds.
As campus security advances at universities throughout the nation, Regis will likely undergo even more changes in the following years. As Williams said, "[New technology] is coming, I think we need it, and I think it's useful; there's always something new. We call it 'dairy technology', because the expiration on it has the expiration of milk." Together with modern innovations, the initiatives of Residence Life and Campus Safety will unceasingly work towards a safer environment for students.