News Release

 
April 14, 2005

Dear Students, Faculty and Staff:

This is the fifth in a series of updates on the implementation of President Brody's security action plan for the Homewood campus, which is available online at www.jhu.edu/news/home05/jan05/trinh9.html.

Faculty and staff who did not receive the earlier updates may find them online at www.jhu.edu/news/univ05/security/index.html.

The first phase of a closed-circuit video monitoring system is nearly complete. The first 24 "smart" cameras became operational on March 28; the full complement of 32 will be online within a few weeks. A fuller description of the system and how it works is at www.jhu.edu/~news_info/news/univ05/apr05/cctv.html.

The cameras are being operated from an interim monitoring center at the Office of Facilities Management on Remington Avenue. Over the summer, the university will merge the monitoring center and the Security Department's communications and dispatch office in larger quarters, also at Facilities Management. This will allow for even closer collaboration between the camera operators and Security's officers on campus and in the streets.

The Buildings and Grounds Committee of the board of trustees has approved the design of the gates and guardhouses that will be installed over the summer at the Alumni Memorial Residences. The aim of the project is to improve security by ensuring that everyone who enters the AMRs has properly identified themselves. Similar ID procedures are also planned for Wolman and McCoy halls, but the necessary construction there will occur inside the main doors. At the AMRs, which have nearly two dozen exterior entrances, an indoor solution was not practical. You can see architect's drawings of the AMR project at www.jhu.edu/news/univ05/security/secure5b.html.

Upgrades to the emergency "blue light" telephones on and around campus are nearly done. In a few cases, power supplies are being swapped out, but most of the work that remains is testing, especially under rainy conditions. There are 32 blue light phones, five of them now in improved locations. The project took longer than originally expected; when installers opened up the units to replace outdated telephone hardware, they found in a number of cases that old wiring and other components also had to come out. Next step: replacement of the 12 emergency phones at the Johns Hopkins @ Eastern campus.

The university has hired a lighting consultant to assess frequently used pedestrian routes on and around the Homewood campus. Implementation of the consultant's recommendations will begin over the summer. Meanwhile, the university is continuing to replace old outdoor light fixtures with fixtures that meet the new standard adopted as part of the Homewood campus master plan several years ago. This summer, 40 more fixtures will be replaced, improving not only the "look" of the campus but also nighttime illumination.

Sincerely,
Paula Burger
Dean of Undergraduate Education