By The Editors
With the wave of a hand and a secret password, residents of the Netherlands can pass through the dorms while their swipe cards remain in their pockets. No, it’s not a magic trick, but public safetyÃs latest move to use technology to safeguard students from the dangers waiting outside the UniversityÃs gates.
Using state of the art biometric technology, a scanner records hundreds of measurements of each students’ hand and stores them in a database. Then, when a student needs to gain access to the back entrance of the Netherlands he or she will have to scan their hand and input their 700 number, while the machine searches for a match among those on file. The theory is that the details detected by the scanner create an image that is unique to each person, similar to a fingerprint. This would prevent non-residents from entering the dorms, a problem that can occur when students’ Hofstracards are lost, stolen or borrowed.
Right now, the machine is going to be tested out in the Netherlands, but if it performs well then soon the entire campus could be wired with these smart scanners, making Hofstracards obsolete.
The gizmos that once fascinated us in the movies are now entering our day-to-day lives, but aside from being awe-struck, has technology made students any safer?
Over the past five years, public safety has installed automatic locks on the doors in the Netherlands and required residents to swipe multiple times en route to their dorms. While many students would argue that these upgrades have created nothing more than headaches resulting from students being locked out of the dorms or needing to swipe at least 20 times each day. While no tests have been conducted to assess the efficiency of these additions to the dorms, overall, campus safety has improved, especially in the residence halls.
According to the most recent Campus Safety Report, in 2002 there were 54 cases of burglary on campus, and 51 of these occurred in the residential facilities. However, one year later there were only a total of 32 cases of burglary on campus. In 2004, thefts on campus rose again, to 51, but the dorms did not follow, leveling off at 36 cases.
Obviously, the changes that public safety has made in the dorms are working, and they should be commended for their efforts to enhance safety and experiment with cutting-edge technology. However, there is one thing troubling about their new hand scan plan. When residents swipe into their dorms or at the main entrance at night, there is usually a booth attendant or public safety representative nearby, but when students pass through the back entrance of the Netherlands, there is no one else within eyeshot or earshot if they have any problems, just a machine.
For decades, mankind has both feared and fantasized about a world run by computers, but never before has technology been able to accomplish the task. The director of public safety, Ed Bracht, said the scanner was installed behind the Netherlands because it is not the main entrance and therefore, would be a safe place to test the device. Hopefully, for the sake of Residential Safety Representatives and residents, public safety is only experimenting with the technology and is not planning on using it as an alternative to officers. While a shift from manpower to electronic devices would save the University money because they would not have to pay salaries and benefits to machines, it would be a disservice to students.
There have been numerous instances last semester and even during move-in day this January when residents reported there were no public safety attendants sitting in the booth, even during the late-night shifts.
If there is a lack of public safety staff, then perhaps money and efforts should be used to recruit more attendants rather than trying to lock down the entire campus. When a problem arises, machines are useless, and should not be considered a replacement for intelligent human beings. Instead, these devices should only be used as additional means of security or tools for the officers.
Knowing that there is a trained professional standing at these checkpoints brings a sense of security to students. The high tech equipment only helps that person do the job.