Cellphone usage eliminating value of blue light phones

Since 2005, the University of South Dakota has had four blue light emergency phones installed around campus.

However, in the past four years, Jef Rice, assistant director of the University Police Department, said the phones have only been used twice — one call for directions and the other, a prank. Rice attributes this low usage to cellphones.

“It just seems like in any type of emergency, everybody seems to have a cellphone right now,” Rice said. “So convenience-wise, I think cellphones are a pretty nifty deal.”

Blue light emergency phones allow anyone in need of emergency assistance to notify UPD by pressing a red button and then speaking to a dispatcher. The phones are commonplace on many college campuses nationwide.

Despite the usefulness of mobile phones, Rice said the physical blue lights on campus still serve a purpose.

“I would encourage all students to know where they’re at, not just rely on their cellphone,” Rice said.

Sophomore Megan Christiansen, an elementary education major, said she has a general idea of where the campus blue lights are, but is not entirely sure of their exact location.

She said even though campus isn’t too big, she would like to see a few more, especially in the Coyote Village parking lot.

“I think they’re important to have,” Christiansen said.

She didn’t believe adding more blue lights would make campus look unsafe, she said.

“I think it would show that they’re working to keep campus safe,” Christiansen said.

If the need for more blue lights existed, UPD would send a proposal to the USD planning and construction department for “review and recommendation,” Rice said.

“When you look at it, you have to look at how often they’re used. Are they used often enough that we would need to look at that or have they become obsolete? And what I mean by obsolete isn’t that you would need to take them out,” Rice said. “But with the new technology nowadays, if you hit your 911 button, you can be tracked. It’s pretty easy for a dispatch center in this day and age, generally speaking.”

During Student Government Association President Tyler Tordsen’s campaign last spring, he contacted UPD director Pete Jensen to see how they could work together to address student safety concerns. The result was a safety walk.

Safety walks used to occur annually but were lost in the shuffle of SGA executive positions, Tordsen said.

Safety walks are open to any student who wants to participate. Tordsen said last year, two groups split up to scout out areas of safety concern, such as burnt-out lights or places someone could potentially hide. Tordsen then made a list of what the groups noticed.

“Realistic or not, we would just compile a list of just anything we thought that could be changed,” Tordsen said.

From there, the list went to Jensen, who met with facilities management to see what could be done.

“Students have a big voice on this campus,” Tordsen said. “Basically anything that students have an issue with, people will hear them out, and we get results done.”

First-year Audra Van Ekeren said she wouldn’t mind more surveillance on campus, but not necessarily more emergency phones.

“Most people have a cellphone,” Van Ekeren said.

An abundance of blue light phones would make her doubt campus safety, she said.

“I’d question it a little bit,” Van Ekeren said.

Sophomore Charles Nearman, who lives off campus, said he’s never noticed the blue light phones.

“I’ve never heard of them,” Nearman said.

Although Nearman said they are a good safety feature, he doesn’t believe there is a huge need on USD’s campus for more.

Some items on the list were not completed because of lack of funding. Others were not completed because they would not serve enough purpose. However, some items were addressed within days, like a fence near the Burgess-Norton residence halls, which was torn down.

Tordsen said although some students felt campus didn’t have enough blue lights, he was determined it was not a pressing issue.

“They are not obsolete. They’re good to have, but with technology, I think they’re not as frequently used or as necessary to have them everywhere, because everybody has cellphones everywhere,” Tordsen said. “And typically, from the admissions standpoint, which is something we didn’t think about, having more of them on campus makes the campus look unsafe.”

Since the safety walk, Tordsen said he hasn’t heard any more concern about campus blue lights.

“If there was a huge outcry for it, I’m sure (UPD) would probably look into it more,” Tordsen said.

Tordsen cited USD’s relatively low crime rate as another reason why blue lights may not be in the forefront of people’s minds.

“If you look at the stats, we’re actually a pretty safe campus,” Tordsen said.

There’s an app for that

Blue Light, an app that mimics the functions of physical blue light emergency phones, was started by Chief Executive Officer Preet Anand as a tool to reduce the cases of college sexual assault.

“He realized that the cellphone might be the way to do it,” Lauren Wilbanks, head of marketing and outreach for Blue Light, said.

Blue Light became available on Android late last year and went live on iOS this past December.

For all of Blue Light’s functions to work, the college where the app is being used has to be registered.

“If you are on a participating college campus, basically when you request help from the campus, it goes to the department of public safety,” Wilbanks said. “Here’s the difference, though — it will convey to the dispatcher, it will connect with your location so it will tell the dispatcher your location before you start speaking with the dispatcher.”

Blue Light will function more similarly to a regular call if a user is on a non-participating college campus. USD does not participate in the program.

“It will route you to 911 and will overlay your location so that you can then tell the dispatcher your current address when they ask you where you are. 911 cannot necessarily locate you quickly or accurately on mobile phones,” Wilbanks said. “The distance within which they can find you can be up to three city blocks, and it can take them quite a long time to do so.”

Students can send a request to have their campus registered on Blue Light’s website, and each request is processed manually. Wilbanks said she did not want to disclose too many details of the process because of privacy.

“The more requests that we get per particular school, the farther that we push it up in the queue,” Wilbanks said. “We want to make sure that we’re serving the students who really want our presence on campus.”

Wilbanks said Blue Light has an “intention to expand very quickly.” Most of the current registered campuses are located in the San Francisco Bay Area and are partnered with Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis.

Both Van Ekeren and Nearman agreed that an app would be a good safety feature for college campuses.

“I think it’s an excellent idea,” Nearman said.

Even as Blue Light expands to more college campuses, Wilbanks said the physical blue lights, after which the app is named, are still important.

“It’s important for students to have all of the tools they can possibly have,” Wilbanks said. “We want students to be safe. The whole point of the inception of Blue Light is to help students keep safer and other people across the country.”