University purchases first blue light

Alabama State University implemented another step in its effort to ensure a safer campus.

The university has recently acquired a blue light emergency system near the Robert C. Hatch Forensic Science Building.

The system will allow a person on the campus to press a button that will alert campus police. When the call comes into the police department the officers will be notified of where the problem is originating, which will enable them to respond immediately and accurately.

ASU Police Chief Jeffrey Young is excited about the new system.

"I want to put them all over the campus," Young said. "Anything that we can do to increase the safety of the community, we want to do."

Young believes that the system will assist the entire ASU community.

"The system is not just for students," Young said. "It's for anyone who is in that area and has a problem."

ASU has been working on obtaining the system since the beginning of last semester. There are plans to have them in place at the Ralph D. Abernathy College of Education and Life Sciences buildings that are currently being constructed.

Although Young feels the systems are needed, they are costly. The cost for each system is $5,000 dollars. The expensiveness of the systems is a major funding issue.

Students had mixed feelings about the university's acquiring of the emergency systems.

Tiffany Hawkins, a Junior Theater major, believes that the system does not help students but is in place just to protect the new forensic science building.

"They only want to protect their new building," Hawkins said. "I'm always at the theater so if I need help I can't run from the theater to the other side of campus."

Carlos Jones, a junior recreational therapy major, feels that the system is really not needed.

"I don't think we need to waste money on it," Jones said. "The police department just needs to do a better job of protecting its students."

Hawkins agreed with Jones and also believes that the police could do a better job.

"There have been many days that I've gone past Sonics and seen officers there," she said. "While they are there fights and shootings are happening on campus."

Young is optimistic that the results that the systems will manifest convince university administrators to further invest in them in the near future.

"I just hope that the administration will see the positive impact that the emergency system has," Young said. "And they will want to put more throughout the campus."