By Khalem Caldwell

A frantic college student, looking for answers starts to bang loudly on a door. The thunderous claps on the door can be heard down the hall. The resident assistant opens the door, peering at the distraught student. A theft had just occurred in the students dorm room, and he wants to recover the stolen items, and hold the thief accountable. However, no security cameras are present, and the investigation progress is more difficult because of that.

Quincy University provides security cameras in every dorm hall, except Helein Hall. Padua Hall was the latest dorm hall, having security cameras installed in the summer of 2019, leaving Helein all alone.

According to Sam Lathrop, head of security, the class of 2023 freshman were supposed to be living in Padua Hall. This explains why Padua received security cameras before Helein did. However, due to class size, Padua wasn’t able to fit every student. The school then decided to make Gardner Hall and Helein Hall its freshman dorms.

Monitoring first year college students can be difficult, especially when you are growing as a young adult yourself.

CJ Cunningham is the first floor R.A. on the east wing of Helein Hall. According to Cunningham, the R.A’s want to provide a safe, respectable place for all students to enjoy.

“This issue really starts with respect,” Cunningham said. “If we’re going to tell residents to lock their doors, then we always must tell residents it isn’t right to steal things, and this isn’t the place for that.”

Nicci Fagan, the director of Central and Eastern U.S. higher education sales for CDW•G, which is a provider of technology products and services for the government and education, says that video cameras have become a key part of the security strategy on college campuses.

According to Fagan, in higher education, the video solutions that are used most frequently, or earmarked for likely adoption in the near future, are: Fixed security cameras, network video recorders, digital video recorders, video management software, body cameras for campus police, and physical security information management.

Ashley McCarter is a student living in QU’s newest dorm, the Student Living Center (SLC). The SLC saw its first students enter in 2011, and were immediately installed with security cameras.

“I feel safer knowing that we have cameras,” McCarter said. “ All dorms should have cameras because a lot can happen in college.”

McCarter isn’t the only student favoring the idea of security cameras in all dorms. Garner resident Sarah Conroy agrees with her.

“If anything gets stolen you automatically know who took it,” Conroy said. “If anyone is in the halls that shouldn’t be or something happens, you can always check the security cameras to know what’s going on.”

Thefts and unwanted visitors can be kept out of a students private space with a simple lock of the door. Each student living on campus is provided with a key, which should be with them every time they leave their room.

“I have worked at Quincy University for nine years,” Lathrop said. “I have never investigated a theft, where the door was locked.”

The Universities IT staff has already installed the wiring for security cameras in Helein Hall. The security cameras will be installed this summer.