Despite being unwatched for the majority of the time, the advanced security camera presence around Vanderbilt has proved successful in helping to improve campus safety.
Vanderbilt has had security cameras installed on parts of campus for more than 20 years, expanding not only its physical coverage over time but also adapting with technological advances, transitioning from the very first in the mid-1980s to the current digital DVR-type technology, according to Vanderbilt University Police Department Commander Jason Goodrich.
And while the majority of security cameras run continually, the footage is not constantly monitored.
“The video is stored so that it can be reviewed in the event of a crime, vandalism or violation of university policy,” said Senior Director of Housing Operations Jim Kramka. “Footage may not be reviewed unless authorized by the senior housing administration.”
In the event of a reported crime, however, the footage can be used as part of an investigation, a system that VUPD has used successfully in the past.
“If you have a good camera system, you can solve cases with them, there’s no doubt. I know we’ve solved cases in the past based off of getting good pictures,” Goodrich said. “What really helps us, especially like in the garages where your entries and exits are covered, (the cameras) give us a really good time frame of when something happened because you have when they came in (and) when they leave.”
Due to technological advances, the camera system has the ability to pull footage from a wide window of time.
The cameras also serve as a potential deterrent for crime, as assault offenses on campus have decreased by almost 8 percent in the past three years, during which time the number of cameras on campus has increased. Kramka said, however, that the trends cannot be attributed solely to an increase in security cameras but are likely a result of augmented security measures.
“It is difficult to directly correlate the rate of incidents to cameras because one can’t know for sure if a change of incident rates is due to cameras or some other factor,” Kramka said.
Despite the effectiveness of the security cameras, Goodrich suggests that the system still lacks a level of uniformity.
“There’s no real centralization of those systems,” he said. “So for the campus parking garages, Traffic and Parking would administer those cameras. At the Medical Center, Plant Operations would administer the cameras.”
There is some discussion of centralizing the system in the near future, but the cost of that initiative may delay its completion.
“This is just a preliminary discussion at this point,” Goodrich said. “What we are looking at is with the compartmentalization, there’s nobody who has the authority over the whole campus, so you are dealing with separate entities and who has cameras and what different budgets are.”
Even with the advances in both technology and number of cameras, some students still think there are some flaws in the system, particularly in coverage of all parts of campus, mainly Highland Quad and the surrounding areas.
“I lived in Lewis last semester, and there were a few times that I did not feel safe walking from campus to my room at night,” said junior Courtney Dillard.
While there may still be perceived gaps in the system, Kramka said the system is always undergoing a constant review.
“We are looking at adding cameras to cover the exteriors of the Chaffin apartments and Mayfield lodges,” he said. “We believe we have a very effective system. We always attend to improvements in technology and implement as appropriate.”
