The stairs leading to Mount Olympus can be intimidating after sunset. As a freshman, Courtney Stafford recalled that her only sense of relief came from seeing a blue light at the bottom of those stairs.

‘I was told that if you press the button on the blue light, the cops will come shortly,’ said Stafford, a sophomore political science major. ‘I felt that nothing could happen to me in those couple of minutes that cops couldn’t stop.’

Across Main and South Campus, a total of 152 stations make up the Blue Light Alarm System. The lights, which were first constructed in the late 1980s after several violent incidences, can be seen while cutting across the Quad or while passing Thornden Park on Ostrom Avenue. But since the conception of this system, Department of Public Safety Captain John Sardino said he witnessed a transformation in the way safety is handled at Syracuse University.

Today, after 27 years of experience in DPS, Sardino said it is questionable how effective the system is in truly preventing violence.

In 2011, DPS responded to 1,051 blue light calls, Sardino said in an email. Of those alerts, 1,043 had no voice contact, meaning DPS checked the light and no one was found in need of assistance in the area. In three instances, an individual reported someone was ill; in four instances, someone called because they were locked out of a parking garage; and one call reported a suspicious vehicle.

‘We get a lot of false reports or pushes, and there is typically a spike in those types of activities on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights between midnight and 3 a.m.,’ Sardino said.

Although most of the calls are false alarms, Sardino said the system is effective in increasing people’s sense of security.

‘When you see the blue lights, it makes you feel safe,’ he said. ‘This is because it is a visual aid, like when you see a police car drive in your neighborhood; you can look at it to feel a little better about walking down this block.’

PJ Alampi, a campus tour guide, said he frequently receives questions from prospective students and their parents about the system while giving tours. He said people are very receptive to the concept even though it is not always possible to see from one blue light to another on SU’s campus.

But Nina Pelligra, a freshman English and textual studies and music major, said she was told on her campus tour that an individual should be able to see at least one blue light from any other. She said the blue light system was heavily stressed during her initial tour and her freshman orientation this past fall.

Although she has a thorough understanding of the system and has the DPS telephone number programmed into her cellphone, Pelligra said she is still always nervous to walk the campus at night.

‘I am always paranoid, especially after receiving campus-wide emails that there have been attacks and robberies,’ Pelligra said.

Pelligra, who never walks alone at night, said she usually doesn’t notice the blue light stations. She also said she takes issue with the system because it seems difficult for an individual to get to a station if he or she is under attack.

During orientation, a resident adviser told Pelligra that an individual must move from station to station, continuously hitting the buttons under the lights, if they are being followed. She said although she does not believe this is a very effective process, she cannot think of a better alternative.

‘We advertise it, people like it,’ Sardino said. ‘But people like it too much and put too much emphasis on the blue light system.’

Sardino said although he tells inquiring parents the system is in place and operational, he stresses the blue lights do not remove the possibility of students becoming victims of violence.

‘I understand security, but I don’t want you to have a false sense of security either,’ Sardino said. ‘If your thought is, ‘I am safe because of that blue light,’ then you have a false sense of security.’

The university is also trying to protect and serve the security needs of people from a wide demographic. Sardino said an individual from Manhattan will have a much different sense of security than someone from a small town where community members don’t bother to lock their doors.

Oladotun Idowu, a sophomore public relations major from Queens, N.Y., said she only feels unsafe when she is walking from a South Campus bus stop to her apartment late at night. She said she never noticed a blue light on that walk.

‘Because I don’t know where it is, it is something I don’t rely on,’ Idowu said. ‘If I was in danger, I would just use my cellphone.’

Sardino said it is much more common for students to use their phone in a case of emergency than a blue light nowadays, which was not the case when the system was brought to SU more than 20 years ago.

Main Campus is divided into four patrol zones, which allows at least one officer to be nearby at all times, said Alampi, the tour guide. Because of this, DPS’ response time to an emergency is a minute and a half to two minutes.

‘That is phenomenal for such a large campus,’ Alampi said.

But the blue light system has never been the sole answer to campus security issues, Sardino said. Implementing the best sense of security means operating with many components, like more general lighting in off-campus residential areas with a high student population.

Lighting is the number one deterrent of overnight crime, Sardino said, and therefore, it is a better investment than adding a single blue light. The installation of one blue light on campus can range from $10,000 to $15,000, he said. This price doubles for off-campus installations.

Alampi, who is also chair of the Student Life Committee on the Student Association, said the organization is discussing the option of bringing more lighting to areas on the outskirts of main campus.

Sardino said DPS also increased the number of officers patrolling these areas.

Although safety is progressing past the concept of the blue light system, Sardino said DPS is also learning that the department needs to educate people on issues of public safety, not just enforce it.

‘But if people still decide not to take warning, we will not be able to stop all crime,’ Sardino said. ‘It’s really all about students themselves being smart about safety.’

The blue lights will remain a feature of SU’s campus security system even though the lights are rarely used to report emergencies.

‘If you don’t feel safe, you’re not safe,’ Sardino said. ‘Perception is everything.’

rebarill@syr.edu 

Published on February 14, 2012 at 12:00 pm