Editorial: On-campus housing needs security boost

Recent violent crimes on campus have raised concerns about
security measures in on-campus housing, and whether these measures
should be increased.

On Friday, Chancellor Albert Carnesale said that although the
robbery and rape in the residence halls should prompt an evaluation
of current security standards, students should remember UCLA
overall is a safe place to live and that the two events are
isolated incidents. This year’s rape was only the second in
UCLA residence-hall history, for example.

The chancellor also acutely pointed out living off campus
wouldn’t guarantee students a higher level of security than
in the dorms anyway. Rape and robbery can, and do, happen
everywhere.

But the veracity of this shouldn’t be cause to abandon all
hope for a safer campus. While ideas such as fencing-in the suites,
as some have proposed, are extreme, there more practical
alternatives.

One of the underlying problems with security in the residence
halls is access to the public: Anyone can enter so long as they
follow a student who opens the door by swiping their card. The
high-rise buildings have an access control system in which housing
employees sit at a desk, verify BruinCards, and then swipe them for
clearance. This makes it difficult for non-residents to get in,
because they’re asked for valid identification by people
rather than by machines.

The problem is residence halls only have these check-in points
set up at night. The rape last quarter happened during mid-morning.
Housing should consider reorganizing their front desk reception
service to verify every student trekking into the dorms is actually
a resident.

Sure, students would quickly become annoyed by the inconvenience
of long waits every time they entered the building, but this is a
petty concern considering the increased levels of security this new
system would afford. Though this wouldn’t stop violence
carried out by residents themselves, the university can keep track
of its own residents and punish them accordingly. Keeping track of
anonymous strangers is not so easy; the assailants in the robbery
case have been at large for over a week now.

Though a more exhaustive front desk system would offer higher
levels of protection to the high-rise halls, it’s important
to remember that both the rape and robbery occurred in buildings
with no front desk service: De Neve Plaza’s Fir building and
the Saxon suites. It would be difficult to set up check-in points
in all areas of De Neve, Sunset Village, Hitch and Saxon because
the buildings are so spread out.

An alternative to front desk check-in at these sites would be to
increase the number of campus security officers more regularly
patrolling the surrounding area. Having an officer close to the
area at all times will serve at least as a partial deterrent to
would-be criminals, considering the alternative: open access.

Implementing these changes might not prevent more crime from
happening in the future, but at the very least, it will help give
worried students peace of mind knowing the university is attempting
to make their surroundings safer.