Thursday, September 27, 2001

House committee tackles campus security, other issues
By Kristin Campbell
Staff Reporter

TCU Police Chief Steve McGee Wednesday told the House of Student Representatives that campus safety depends on input from faculty, staff and students.

Students can help make the campus safer by reporting anything suspicious immediately, McGee said to students in the University Affairs committee.

“We can’t be everywhere at once,” he said. “It’s up to the faculty, staff and students to be the eyes and the ears (of the TCU Police).”

Karl Kruse, a sophomore international business major and the committee chairperson, said the committee invited McGee to inform members of safety concerns like factors contributing to car break-ins, campus lighting and the possibility of extending Froggie-Five-O hours.

McGee also discussed precautionary measures students can take to prevent their cars from being broken into. McGee said students should make sure compact discs, purses, bags or any other valuable items left in the car are not visible. Thieves are more likely to attempt a break-in if they can see anything of value, McGee said.

Committee member Zach Swain, a junior marketing major, said car theft and vandalism is a larger problem than students think.

“If somebody breaks into a car that parked on one of the streets surrounding TCU, the crime is not included in the TCU crime report because it falls under Fort Worth jurisdiction,” Swain said.

McGee said the possibility of building a parking garage over the existing parking lot south of the Moudy building is still being reviewed, but finding a donor to offset the estimated $7 million building cost has not been successful. Parking rates skyrocketed at other schools that built parking garages without donor funding, he said.

Swain said students have expressed an interest in building a getting a parking garage, but may not be willing to pay more fro parking permits.

“TCU students really pay very little for parking compared to other private universities,” Swain said. “I think students will be willing to pay a little more to get a parking garage, but not enough to cover the costs,” he said.

The option of extending Froggie-Five-O hours was discussed but no one agreed to any changes. not agreed upon.

McGee said students have abused the service by forgetting its purpose. It is designed to be a protective service, not a convenient transportation method, he said.

The option of adding expensive security cameras in campus parking lots was previously mentioned, he said, but equipment and labor expenses outweigh the benefits. Money would be better spent on other more effective security measures, McGee said.

Even when cameras are used, by the time an officer sees something suspicious and arrives to investigate, the suspect has fled the scene easily since there are many exits in most of the parking lots, McGee said.

“Dispatchers have a lot going on at night,” McGee said. “We would have to hire someone to just watch the cameras.”

There are two operational cameras in the freshman parking lot.

McGee said it is the most secure parking lot on campus because there is only one entrance and exit, which makes the lot easy to monitor.

McGee said the possibility of building a parking garage over the existing parking lot south of the Moudy building is still being reviewed, but finding a donor to offset the estimated $7 million building cost has not been successful. Parking rates skyrocketed at schools that built parking garages without donor funding, he said.

Swain said students have expressed an interest in building a parking garage, but may not be willing to pay more fro parking permits.

“TCU students really pay very little for parking compared to other private universities,” Swain said. “I think students will be willing to pay a little more to get a parking garage, but not enough to cover the costs,” he said.

The option of extending Froggie-Five-O hours was discussed but no one agreed to any changes.

McGee said students have abused the service by forgetting its purpose. It is designed to be a protective service, not a convenient transportation method, he said.

A yearly assessment of priority campus lighting needs will be established, he said. A list should be made of lighting needs that the physical plant staff, university officials and students decide are most important and then the budget would cover as many new lights as possible, McGee said.

Other topics being explored by the University Affairs committee include making send-home purchases possible at all vending machines and making send-home purchases possible at concession stands in Daniel-Meyer Coliseum and Amon Carter Stadium.

The University Affairs committee meetings are at 3 p.m. every Wednesday and are open to the public.

Kristin Campbell
k.a.campbell@student.tcu.edu