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Main Page Assumption College Students Feel Security Needs to be Revamped
(Click here to view the original thread on the MassCops Message Board)

Posted by: fscpd907

Security needs to be revamped

By: Laura Hart

A man pulls up to the front guard shack at Assumption College, smiles at the guard and tells him that he's picking up his daughter for the weekend. The guard smiles back, waves him on, and wishes him a good day. An hour later, Alumni Hall blows up from a bomb the man set up on the outer rim of the building. The deaths of hundreds and the heartache of thousands watching the news that night could have been avoided if the college had a better security system at the front gate.

In an unfortunate time when school shootings and terrorism is at a high, it is the responsibility of every college to take a closer look at how they ensure a safe learning and living environment. Assumption College, being no exception, needs to revamp its security system and procedures at the front entrance of the campus in order to promote a safer college community.

In order to do this, a renovation of the guard "shack" at the college's entrance is needed. While the shack offers a limited amount of security, and an exaggerated portrayal of safety, it lacks the ability to effectively protect the students. In a survey of 50 randomly selected Assumption students, 71% of them felt that the guard shack currently has no significant role in ensuring their safety. Modifying the guard shack into a larger facility equipped with a traffic gate would not only give the impression of a campus that takes its security seriously, but it would allow them to do so. Instead of a one-man post, the facility could occupy more officers that could take on additional responsibilities such as to monitor footage from newly installed cameras around campus.

It has been in my own personal experience that the guard glances too quickly at the parking sticker on the windshield of the passing cars. So quick, that on numerous occasions, the guard has simply waved in vehicles who have parking stickers similar to Assumption's stickers. To help alleviate problems such as this, a scanner should be installed to scan a bar code on newly improved parking stickers. If a vehicle has an Assumption College parking sticker, the gate will open. If they do not, an officer who is still monitoring the entrance of vehicles can properly assist and direct them. This technologically enhanced process is more efficient and reliable than the one that is currently is place.

Another modification that increases the safety on campus has to do with the process of signing in guests. As the process currently goes, after 6:00 p.m. all guests must be physically signed in by their student host at the guard shack. This has the potential for danger. Take, for example, a female student, who is walking down to the guard shack at 11:00 p.m. If her friends are currently busy, she decides to walk down by herself. She's a little nervous about walking down in the dark alone, but she doesn't want to burden campus police with giving her a ride. As she is walking, she is attacked and assaulted by a man much stronger than her. If she was not required to walk down to the guard shack, this never would have occurred. Although this is a hypothetical situation, it could realistically happen. Fifty percent of the female students surveyed said they have felt nervous, uneasy, or afraid while walking down to the guard shack, particularly at night.

Assumption senior Amanda Berthiaume said that it would be beneficial to move the process online because, "More students would probably comply, it would be more convenient, and security would have more awareness of its guests on campus." Of the same students surveyed, 81% would like to see the process moved online. At other schools, such as Bryant University, students fill out their portion of a guest pass electronically. Their ID numbers serve as an electronic signature, and they submit it via the Internet. If the guard post was renovated as previously discussed, it could also be equipped with Internet access, in which the submitted guest pass could be received and printed out. The standard guest pass could still be used when preferred by students.

By investing in these security upgrades, the college is investing in the well-being of its students. Every college's first responsibility is to provide a safe learning and living environment. The students make up the college, and pay the big money to go there. Without them, the institution would not exist. Therefore it is not unreasonable to say that the students are the priority, and should be treated as such.

Other members of the college community may argue that Assumption College already provides a safe enough environment for its students. The crime rate is low, and there have never been any major issues concerning safety. On top of this, it could be argued that security upgrades are too costly. However, the worst thing for any school to assume is that it is invincible. While Assumption's security system has been adequate thus far, that does not mean that it is up to par, or that they should not invest in improvements to ensure the continual safety of its students. Of all thirteen colleges in Worcester, Assumption has led with the highest number of on-campus burglaries with 86 reported incidents in the past three years. They have also ranked the highest with the number of aggravated assaults, having reported 12 since 2004. With 6 reported on-campus forcible sex offenses in the past three years, the college has ranked second, tying with Clark University, and following behind Holy Cross in this category. However, no matter what a school's crime rate may be, it only took one act of violence, one incident, to kill six innocent people at the recent Northern Illinois shooting. I wonder what it would take for any college to realize that the upgrades are worth every penny it would cost to implement. Does a physical act of violence, such as a school shooting, have to take place before we make adjustments?

If Assumption College is serious about investing in the safety of its students, than we should expect to see necessary changes and enhancements being made. So this time when the man "picking up his daughter for the weekend" comes along, Assumption will be better prepared to prevent any harm from being done on campus. So should we wait to see the face of our college on the national news like Virginia Tech, or should we act now before any such thing ever has the chance to take place?

Posted by: 94c

With this much concern for the safety of the campus, is it safe to assume they're armed?

Posted by: rg1283

The cops are armed at assumption. However, I don't think the guard shack guy is.

Posted by: JMB1977

Correct. The gaurd at the shack is unarmed and is not a PO. However Assumption now has 24-7 Shack coverage.

Posted by: SinePari

I drive by there several times a day and the guard shack must ensure two vital functions: 1) don't let the bad guys in and, 2) they must allow all the girls to leave the campus for their daily jog while wearing the proper attire.

Posted by: 5-0

Quote:

Originally Posted by SinePari

I drive by there several times a day and the guard shack must ensure two vital functions: 1) don't let the bad guys in and, 2) they must allow all the girls to leave the campus for their daily jog while wearing the proper attire.

You should institute a 'ride-along' program for the ladies SP... for their safety of course.

Posted by: WaterPistola

Quote:

Originally Posted by fscpd907

Security needs to be revamped

By: Laura Hart

A man pulls up to the front guard shack at Assumption College, smiles at the guard and tells him that he's picking up his daughter for the weekend. The guard smiles back, waves him on, and wishes him a good day. An hour later, Alumni Hall blows up from a bomb the man set up on the outer rim of the building. The deaths of hundreds and the heartache of thousands watching the news that night could have been avoided if the college had a better security system at the front gate.

When was this? or is it a 'what if' situation?

Posted by: SinePari

Hey Water, Hetfield playing "Fight Fire With Fire" (the song is older than you are, btw) without hair in the NEW Metallica is sacreligious. Remove that pic immediately!

Posted by: galehopeful

It's a "what if;" AssCo has never had anything blown up.

Posted by: SinePari

WaterPistola's Sig:
removed cause I offended a senior citizen

I still mix it up in a Slayer/Hatebreed pit any chance I can

Posted by: WaterPistola

are you the one people refer to as "the undertaker"?

Posted by: rg1283

That type of security to prevent dirty bombs and all that stuff, to be 100% safe would require a military base like security set-up. That college is a very very very liberal school, students like the one what wrote that article are the small majority. The gaurd shack is kind of pointless, more of baby blanket security if anything.

Posted by: sgtsmithers

That guard shack would make a nice OUI checkpoint on a Thursday or Friday night.

Posted by: Kilvinsky

It's all well and good to put out a scenario like the one in the 'news story', but realistically, with the amount of legitimate traffic that goes in and out of a college on a daily basis, the guy in the booth really can't be expected to stop everyone. It's not a military installation where people expect a certain degree of inflexibility, it's a damn college. Parents, commuter students, deliveries, visitors, etc. It's not a bad thing to monitor who goes in, but you can't truly control it under normal circumstances.

It's an unrealistic expectation of security and a rather silly scenario. Sure it could happen, but then again, if someone REALLY wants to blow up a campus building, they'll find a way. Slowing daily traffic to a crawl won't stop it.

Posted by: SinePari

Quote:

Originally Posted by WaterPistola

are you the one people refer to as "the undertaker"?

Nah, just the old guy in the pit.

Posted by: 5-0

Quote:

Originally Posted by SinePari

Nah, just the old guy in the pit.

Do they let walkers in the pits now? It's been a while since I hopped in the skillet.

Posted by: GuyS

Get a few M-16's from surplus and walk around campus with them, see if that makes students feel more at ease.

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