The recent home-invasion robbery in Saxon Residential Suites and
last year’s rape of a female student in a De Neve building
represent a disturbing trend in the security situation of campus
housing. As a current resident of Hitch Residential Suites, which
is a short distance from Saxon, I am very concerned by these
developments, and I think additional measures should be taken to
ensure the safety of all students.
No security measures are completely foolproof and nothing can be
done to ensure that what happened will not occur again in the
future. But that should not stop us from making whatever changes
are necessary to reduce the likelihood of such tragic
incidents.
One of the biggest security problems, which contributed to the
crime in De Neve, is the accessibility of De Neve and Sunset
Village housing facilities to anyone throughout the day. All that
is required to enter these dorms is the BruinCard of a De Neve or
Sunset resident. With people coming and going throughout the day,
access is not a problem for anyone, either benign or malevolent.
Residents do not know the profile of a potential suspect, and thus
it is unlikely they could report someone suspicious before an
incident has already taken place.
Residence halls are marginally safer. While residents must swipe
their BruinCards after 9:00 pm and sign-in all guests, daytime
access is as easy as that of De Neve or Sunset. I propose that all
residence buildings require residents to swipe their BruinCards and
sign-in guests all day. I know this could be inconvenient,
especially during peak hours of activity when large lines could
form with students returning to their dorms after meals or class.
Also students who drink excessively couldn’t stay with
friends in De Neve or Sunset to avoid disciplinary consequences
from the front desk. But such inconveniences are a small price to
pay compared to the crime that occurred last December.
The robbery in Saxon is a much more difficult problem, as there
are few realistic ways to limit access to the residences. Saxon and
Hitch are made of many self-contained buildings and use a balcony
structure, as opposed to the fully enclosed structure of the
residence halls. However, while access cannot be limited, it can
certainly be observed. If cameras were installed in each building,
so that the entrances to each room were visible, violent incidents
could be stopped in progress, or at least perpetrators could be
more easily identified. The cameras should be monitored by trained
security personnel 24 hours a day.
Again, this proposal raises serious issues. The biggest
potential complaint is that cameras represent an infringement on
the privacy of residents and could be used to discipline people for
violations, such as drinking or smoking. While the potential for
excessive enforcement of current regulations certainly exists,
installing cameras properly would only leave the areas directly
outside of residential quarters open to surveillance. All these
areas are visible to anyone in the vicinity already. All that would
change is that a greater number of people could view what a few
people can already see.
Another worthwhile improvement is adding more uniformed security
personnel, such as Community Service Officers and University of
California police officers, during the daytime. While at night
there is a stronger security presence, strict enforcement is sorely
lacking in the daytime. Crimes could easily be committed and have
been, simply because no one with the specific job of monitoring
security was watching.
The harm of lax security should be clear to everyone. Victims of
crime can file lawsuits, and capable students will be deterred from
coming to here by the fear that UCLA is a crime-prone school. The
security measures I suggest do not come without a heavy price, and
they are not perfect. However, they are the last and best hope for
making on-campus housing the truly excellent experience it is meant
to be.
Bhaskar is a second-year political science student. E-mail him
at sbhaskar@media.ucla.edu.