Surveillance cameras appear to be everywhere, and Syracuse University's campus will soon be no different.
Intended as a tool to combat crime, the centralized closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera surveillance system will be monitored both by a computer and a dispatcher at the Department of Public Safety.
But the prevalence of an omnipresent eye raises questions about its intended uses and when it crosses the line between safety and privacy. Most people, however, agree that the security benefits it provides would outweigh issues of privacy, especially in a post-9/11 and post-Virginia Tech world.
"A few students mentioned to me some of these things might infringe on their privacy," said Student Association President Ryan Kelly. "But when you go to a private institution, you give up a lot of these rights."
Paul Gandel, vice president for information technology and services, said the cameras will only be used in public spaces.
"All the cameras do is enhance the reach of public safety so that they patrol more areas at once," Gandel said in an e-mail.
These spaces, in the order of which they will be phased in, include all entrances and exits of residence halls, including fire exits, roadways, walkways, parking lots and garages. They will be installed on both North and South campuses and will concurrently be linked to existing cameras, said DPS Chief Anthony Callisto.
But on South, where student apartments are near roads that may eventually have surveillance cameras, some worry the cameras will be used to curb underage drinking.
"There always can be an abuse of systems, as with anything," Kelly said. "Any illegal activity on a surveillance camera is fair game. But if you're dumb enough to be drinking in front of cameras, it's your fault."
Barry Wells said the system's intent is to curtail criminal activity, not to send students to the Office of Judicial Affairs.
"The system is not designed to infringe upon the rights of students or to try to bring in people who are drinking," the senior vice president and dean of student affairs said. "We have to provide assurances to students it will be used for certain purposes."
Though the campus already has approximately 100 stationary CCTV surveillance cameras, individual departments - using their own budgets - monitor them, Callisto said.
"They were primarily put in by officials from particular schools," he said. "There hasn't been a standard around those."
With this new system, these existing cameras will be combined with more than 1,000 strategically located cameras to create one centralized monitoring system. Some cameras will be stationary and some will scan areas and zoom.
Kelly said he'd like to see some of these cameras incorporated into the blue light emergency call systems across campus.
"I think it's good as long as they only use them for security purposes," said sophomore Tyrone Shaw. After hearing about the system, the secondary education and political science major and his friends extensively discussed the subject. "I'm really happy that they're taking that step, but there is a limit."
DPS responds to 44,000 calls each year, leaving little time to abuse such a system, Callisto said.
"The intent of the system is a tool to minimize criminal behavior," Callisto said.
For example, last week DPS arrested the man who had snuck into DellPlain Hall.
"If we had the cameras there, we probably could have arrested him many days earlier," Callisto said. "Technology really speeds up that process."
From a financial standpoint, this system will cost millions of dollars, Callisto said.
Though the individual cameras are only about $100, start-up costs will be high, and there will be annual maintenance costs.
"They're very expensive systems, but it's the same with any technology," Wells said. "In the early years, there's a high cost, but as time goes on, costs are reduced."
Though discussion about such a system began in 2005 with Callisto's predecessor, Marlene Hall, official discussion and analysis began in fall 2006 by the CCTV subcommittee. The committee includes Callisto; David Pajak, director of risk management; Eric Beattie, director of Design and Construction and Jenny Gluck, information technology manager.
Though details are still being discussed, the subcommittee will present a final proposal by the end of the semester to the SU Security Projects Steering Committee and then to the Board of Trustees.
After an external consultant is brought in and plans are finalized, Wells, dean of student affairs, said it will take 12 to 18 months to implement the first phase. That phase includes the installation of cameras at entrances and exits of residence halls.
"Fortunately for us at SU, we had been looking at safety and security for a number of years," he said. "SU has been vigilant on this front. When Virginia Tech happened, we didn't have to start from scratch."
While some urban schools such as New York University have 3,000 cameras, others have about 300, Callisto said.
Such a system has been in place for almost two years now at State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
There are currently four stationary cameras and two cameras that scan areas and zoom, and more will be added as budgeting allows, said Paul McGuinnes, chief of ESF University Police.
And so far, the system seems to be working well.
"We've used them for several criminal instances we've followed up on," McGuinnes said, though UP operates very differently from DPS and on a much smaller campus. "Because they're recorded, we can play them back."
In terms of any violations of privacy, "I don't think it's been a problem," he said.
However ESF, unlike SU, does not have residence halls.
At SU, the new system can be used as an extended patrol to monitor places that officers may not be able to get to and can help recall images after an incident, Callisto said.
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