Editor,
I am writing in response to the Monday, Jan. 27, article about the blue light call boxes placed throughout the Ohio University campus. As I was reading, I became slightly angered by some of the things that were printed in the article.
Over the past 24 hours, I have listened to some people in my classes talk about how good it was to read an article that highlighted the fact that there are 66 call boxes placed throughout campus. However, I would like to share a couple of things that have happened that completely changed my perspective on the usefulness of these call boxes. The reality is strikingly different than the perspective the article portrays.
I am a resident assistant on South Green. Last weekend, on Saturday evening rounds, a fellow RA and I noted that someone had pressed the emergency red button on the catwalk call box between Armbruster and Weld Halls. Seeing the white beacon flashing, we ran to the call box to see if the people who pressed it were OK. The two of us had never seen the beacon flash at any time in the past, so we were unsure if OUPD would show up. I guess we expected the reaction by OUPD to be awfully quick, as stated in the article, because it's an awfully small campus. Well, while I spoke with the individuals who pressed the button (we later found out, it was only an accident), the other RA sat outside by the call box and waited for OUPD to respond the call.
She waited ... and waited ... and waited. No one showed up. Not even one police car even rolled by to see if anything was happening. We then called OUPD on a cell phone to see if they knew that someone had pressed the emergency button on the call box. The dispatcher answered after the first ring: OUPD
can you please hold? So we were put on hold, and we waited, and waited - a total of 15 minutes passed and we were still on hold.
So now I'm asking myself, God forbid, but what if this was real? What if someone had pressed the emergency button on the box and had to run away from their attacker? Would OUPD even show up, let alone, respond quickly? Also, if the person was able to get through to the dispatcher, would they, too, be put on hold? This leads me to a second criticism of the Post article.
The reason we had to call OUPD on a cell phone is because at present, there are no call boxes outside of Dougan House, Smith House, or even True House. Construction was done on portions of South Green over break to fix the bricks that face the inside of New South, where the call boxes are located. This prevented a box from being placed on any of the buildings until after the work was finished. Since then, not one brick has been touched, and not one box has been re-installed at Dougan, Smith or True (I guess this makes the total number of call boxes 63).
I informed OUPD last Thursday about the need to have the call boxes replaced, and they assured me that the boxes would be in place as soon as possible and they would be installed by CNS as quickly as they could. I respect OUPD and appreciate the job that they do for us. However, it's been almost a week, and there is still no call box.
If these Call Boxes are to serve any type of valuable purpose here at OU, we must first make an attempt to get them in place at all 66 stations and make sure they work. Then, once they are in place, make sure that the response time truly is, awfully quick. This must be done to ensure the students of this campus that they are safe anywhere they go, at any time, and that these call boxes are there if they are needed.
-Will Tarter
william.tarter@ohiou.edu 17
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