Big Brother is watching at Boston University.
BU administrators and students say, for the most part, they put their Orwellian paranoia aside when it comes to campus safety. Like most large urban universities, BU is equipped with hundreds of security cameras around campus. Besides regular campus security sweeps, Boston University Police Department detectives and campus security guards also rely on the film the cameras provide to help monitor campus activity.
“They are at various locations on campus for various safety and security reasons,” said BU spokesman Colin Riley.
BUPD Sgt. Jack St. Hilaire said BU’s security cameras are mostly indoors and mostly in plain sight. Since the tapes are generally saved for 30 days, he said the cameras are a great resource when it comes to solving crimes. If BUPD officials ever have to catch someone who assaults a student in a dormitory, for example, film can be crucial.
Another scenario in which the cameras can be particularly useful, Hilaire said, is when burglars try to break into Campus Convenience stores, which are not staffed 24 hours a day.
“[Cameras] don’t call in sick and they don’t discriminate,” said Michael Hathaway, the assistant vice president for campus planning. Despite their abilities, Hathaway emphasized that security cameras are only “a small part of the security system.”
“They’re a great tool to have,” he said. “We take security very seriously, so there are a lot of components involved.”
Hathaway said students should not worry about security abuse with the cameras because the images they capture are only generally referenced under special circumstances. During the nearly 15 years since the university began using cameras, he said he has never received a complaint.
“They are normally used for investigative purposes,” he said. “We’re not spying on anybody.”
The cameras on the John Hancock Student Village, the Mugar Library and the School of Management have proved to be a good way to identify suspects in criminal cases, Hathaway said. Although he did not know exactly how much it costs BU to finance the security camera system, he said it is a worthwhile investment.
In Mugar, he said, cameras have nabbed numerous computer thieves, and in trespassing incidents, perpetrators are almost always caught on camera.
“It helps keep faculty and students safer,” Hathaway said.
Most BU students agreed, even if they were occasionally suspicious of the constant surveillance.
“For the most part, if it’s for my safety, I don’t care,” said College of Communication senior Andrew Riedl.
Riedl said having security cameras is a good idea for security reasons and in “out of the way places,” such as the stairs at the end of Blandford Street commonly referred to as “the rape stairs.” But Riedl admitted he would be uncomfortable if he discovered cameras were in bathrooms or other similarly inappropriate places.
College of Arts and Sciences junior Lucas Woodward took issue with the necessity of security cameras around campus.
“I feel like there’s only so much security cameras can do,” Woodward said. He does not like the idea that “someone could be watching me,” he said.
Still, both CAS seniors Andrew Ulliani and Eriko Akahoshi said the cameras served a good purpose.
Ulliani said he is not entirely comfortable with the security cameras in the elevators in the Student Residences at 10 Buick St. and Akahoshi said she thinks there are too many cameras in the computer lab on Cummington Street.
But neither of them felt their concerns justified their removal.
“I’d rather have them than not have them,” Akahoshi said.
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