Implementation is progressing at a rapid pace for a
series of new initiatives intended to enhance the safety
and security of students on the Homewood campus and in the
neighboring community.
The deaths of two students in the past year have
focused the attention of the Homewood campus community as
never before on issues of safety. In response, President William R. Brody enacted
in late January a 15-point security action plan, funded by
an initial $2 million from the President's Office and the
Homewood deans, and expanded a standing task force into a
26-member Committee on Homewood Safety and Security.
In addition to measures taken in the first weeks of
the plan's enactment, such as the hiring of additional
guards at residence halls and for community patrols, the
university has further increased patrol presence in and
around the campus and forged ahead with plans for video
camera surveillance, more tightly secured and
guard-monitored entrances to student residences, and
enhanced lighting in the surrounding community.
Linda Trinh, a senior biomedical engineering major,
was the victim of a homicide on Jan. 23 in her residence in
the Charles Apartments, a privately owned building on
Charles Street across from the Homewood campus. In April
2004, junior Chris Elser was the victim of a fatal stabbing
by an intruder in an off-campus apartment building occupied
by members of a fraternity.
The Committee on Homewood Safety and Security is
chaired by James T. McGill, senior vice president for
finance and administration, and includes the Homewood
deans, senior university administration, faculty, students,
parents and a community representative. It is charged by
President Brody with assessing safety and security issues,
reviewing and commenting upon the plan for enhancements at
Homewood, and communicating its progress to the JHU
community.
The committee held its first meeting on March 2 and
will convene again on March 23. To date, the committee has
gathered comments and suggestions for improving safety from
many sources, including peer institutions, and will review
and comment on those it thinks most effective.
"The 15-point action plan articulated by President
Brody remains very much a focus of the campus
administration," McGill said. "All of the items are being
followed up on and implemented."
Of note, community patrols utilizing off-duty
Baltimore police officers and BSI Silver Star Security
guards have begun. During evening and overnight shifts, two
or three off-duty police are patrolling along Charles
Street and in Charles Village, both on foot and in cars.
The BSI guards, who had been patrolling the community on
foot, begin regular bicycle patrols this week. When this
program is fully implemented, four guards will be on duty
16 hours a day, from 11 a.m. to 3 a.m., seven days a week
throughout the school year. They will patrol from Charles
Street to Calvert Street and from University Parkway to
29th Street. The initial priority will be patrolling along
Charles Street.
BSI guards are now on duty 24 hours a day at the
university-owned Homewood and Bradford apartment buildings.
Also, a new intercom system has been installed at the
Bradford that requires a guest to talk to his or her host
and be buzzed in before entering; that intercom system is
paired with a video camera that allows residents to use
their computers to see the entry door and positively
identify their guests before buzzing them in. The Homewood
Apartments has a manned security desk.
As part of a larger surveillance effort, installation
of the first phase of closed-circuit video surveillance of
key on- and off-campus areas continues on schedule. The 32
cameras that comprise the first phase--which includes
installations around the AMRs, the Mattin Center,
Eisenhower Library and the Beach--will be operational this
spring and will be monitored around the clock.
There will also be combined camera/emergency phone
units elsewhere on Charles Street at Wolman Hall, Steinwald
Alumni House, the Smokler Center for Jewish Life and the
Bunting-Meyerhoff Interfaith Center. The early work also
includes installations around the perimeter of the Homewood
Apartments.
Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse Inc., the university's
partner in the Charles Commons project now under
construction, has added lighting to properties it owns in
the nearby 3200 block of St. Paul Street. This new lighting
greatly improves nighttime visibility between 32nd and 33rd
streets. President Brody has sent letters to property
owners along the Charles and St. Paul street corridors,
asking for their cooperation in installing new lighting
where Johns Hopkins has identified the need.
In another effort to maximize nighttime visibility,
the university is working with area neighborhoods on a
"Light Up the Night" program, encouraging homeowners to
keep their porch lights on. The university is contributing
2,500 energy-efficient, long-life bulbs for distribution
within the 100 blocks of the Charles Village Community
Benefits District. The CVCBD and the Abell, Charles
Village, Harwood and Old Goucher neighborhood associations
all are part of the project. On March 10, the first 396
bulbs were put into the hands of volunteers for
installation in the Abell neighborhood, and the other areas
are on their way to similar action.
New hardware for the 32 existing blue light emergency
telephones is being installed, correcting the phones'
reliability problem. The university has also ordered six
additional telephones and is doing an assessment, with
input received from students and administrators, to
determine where they might be most effectively located.
Though it was not part of the original security action
plan, steps have been taken to improve security at the Dell
House, which is owned by the university but is not part of
its housing system. The building's management company is
installing video cameras in the lobby that will be wired
into the building's cable TV and buzzer systems, allowing
tenants to use their TVs to view anyone seeking entry into
the building. An emergency 911 phone is being installed in
the lobby. Also, lighting has been added to the side and
rear of the property.
Design is progressing on security-related changes at
the AMRs. Plans include gated wrought iron fences that will
funnel residents and guests to check-in points to enter AMR
I, AMR II, Building A and Building B, limiting entrance
options from the current 22 to three. At the check-in
points, all visitors will be asked to show identification,
and no one will be allowed to "tailgate," a term used for
those who slip in behind someone who shows valid
identification. Design will be completed in April, and
construction will get under way in May. The new system will
be operational for the start of the fall semester. Similar
positive-identification requirements are being implemented
across Charles Street at Wolman and McCoy halls, although,
because of the configuration of those buildings, only
relatively minor interior renovations are required
there.
Separate from the security action plan, but still
relevant to student safety, Baltimore City is readying
changes to ensure the permanent demise of the recently
closed Charles Street "death lane." What once was a
rush-hour-only southbound travel lane will soon be
converted to parking for northbound vehicles, making sure
that traffic stays out of the lane and ending the temporary
aesthetic blight of barriers and barrels.
Regular updates on the implementation of the security
action plan for the Homewood campus are available online at
webapps.jhu.edu/jhuniverse/today/security.cfm.
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