CAMPUS CRIME CAPERS :: Wessex Scene Online

CAMPUS CRIME CAPERS

1st March 2002

Rate this story

Mar 02 - Halls of residence security problems - do the university actually care??
May 02 - Students go down for Ł8
Jan 07 - News in Brief
Oct 02 - Wessex Lane:Business Services Reply..
Jun 05 - University Campus safer

A rampant crime wave sweeps the university...

The security codes on the doors in my block have only been changed once since we arrived - because someone’s boyfriend got in..

“The security codes on the doors in my block have only been changed once since we arrived - because someone’s boyfriend got in..”

So says Amanda (names have been changed) , a first-year student in Connaught halls of Residence. The unreliability of, or unchanged codes on some of the buildings in Southampton’s halls is a disturbingly common complaint amongst freshers this year.

Of course this system is not in place in all of the halls, as Romero Halls and some buildings at Montefiore halls have electromagnetic locks which are deactivated with a keyfob - but this system leads to its own problems.

During a fire alarm, the magnetic locks are automatically switched off so that everyone can get out of the building quickly and easily. The locks are then switched back on after the alarm is dealt with- however, after a fire alarm on the first of February this year, students in Romero apparently found that their “secure” doors remained switched off for almost 36 hours - that’s almost an entire weekend without any form of security on the building’s doors!

Around the same period, a warden allegedly informed students at the halls that their had been problems with “random people sleeping in one of the kitchens”.

One student from Montefiore says that “the buildings with access codes haven’t had theirs changed since October”, whilst access codes in Stoneham (much like some at Connaught) were only changed after an incident - this time involving a fire extinguisher.

A duty warden from a halls of residence near Highfield concurs: “The security here is a joke, not just in our halls but everywhere,” He continued that, at a meeting he and a colleague had raised the subject after finding a female student being taunted by youths on the grounds of the halls, only to find at the next meeting that their pleas had been completely ignored: “They hadn’t done anything about it”.

“A joke”? Indeed, the security “presence” at Glen Eyre Halls is a joke amongst all the students staying there. The common perception of the security guards is as “Old, overweight and unable to give chase to anyone”. One student describes them as “good at getting shirty if you try and take someone else’s post, but that’s about it”.

This is no personal attack on the security guards themselves, all of whom are good people just doing their jobs. However, when one sees that the security guards are, with one or two exceptions, the wrong side of 50 and spend a lot of time smoking outside the building’s doorways, it’s not difficult to assume that they are not the best of deterrents.

Ia recent incident, a security guard in one of the Glen Eyre buildings found a student’s key. They, no doubt with the best of intentions, then let themselves into the student’s room, where the student’s sister was asleep. The same building in which this incident occurred has been the subject of security concern since Day 1 of the first semester this year. Since then, it’s been no secret that the main door can be forced open discreetly and with no real effort or noise.

The building has 3 entry points, all with access codes, which have been changed regularly since the students’ arrival. One of those doors, however, has only recently had a keypad removed which since November last year was accepting the access code “00000”...
Security is something which Business Services staff and students alike need to discuss in order to find a solution to these growing problems - this will not be solved, however, if even the wardens’ concerns are being ignored.

ROB BARBOUR