Police and university officials say the installation of cameras in residence halls throughout campus is exclusively for safety reasons.
After a pilot run in Voigt Hall, buildings renovated or constructed as part of Ohio University’s master plan will feature cameras at the entrances of the residence halls as well as hallways, common rooms and lobbies.
The project, developed by Residential Housing in conjunction with the Ohio University Police Department, will span the next 10 years and include dorms on East and South Greens.
OU Police Chief Andrew Powers and OU’s Vice President for Finance and Administration Stephen Golding must approve any installation of an “electronic monitoring device” before the camera is activated.
Once activated, however, the cameras will not be monitored in real time.
“If an incident was reported, dispatchers will have the abilityto pull up the cameras to assist in helping the responding officers,” Powers said.
Most cameras will be placed with the goal of monitoring those coming and going, said Josh Bodnar, assistant director of Residential Housing. Cameras will be accessible to a limited amount of staff in the Division of Student Affairs, resident directors of each building, and all OUPD officers and dispatchers. Resident assistants will not have access.
The video will be recorded to discs and kept on file for reference if a problem is reported.
The video files will be kept on a server and will be overwritten when that server reaches capacity.
During the school year, rewriting could occur as soon as 60 days after the first file is saved, Powers said, adding that the length of time will vary because the servers will fill up based on the buildings’ activity.
“If there is an incident, we can pull up the footage and check to see who entered the building at that time because the card access will record who swiped into the building,” Bodnar said.
The cameras and card-access system are meant to work together to keep unwanted visitors out, he added.
Though the cameras in Voigt Hall, a women-only residence hall, are not yet active, the building has been outfitted with security cameras at the entrances and within the lobby. The cameras were installed Jan. 17, according to a previous Post article.
Residential Housing is awaiting final software approval from Golding before activating the pilot test period.
“The focus is solely on safety; it’s not an attempt to violate privacy,” Dean of Students Ryan Lombardi said. “We simply want to make it as safe as possible for the residents that live in those buildings.”
jb351009@ohiou.edu
