UH parking to install cameras
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
A $255,000 security camera system being installed in the University of Hawai'i-Manoa parking structure is expected to deter crime.
The cameras will be in addition to security guards who have been posted at all five levels. Other lots on campus are considered much more of a crime risk.
UH spokeswoman Kristen Cabral said it is the first such camera system to be installed on campus and designed to deter crime and save money rather than as a reaction to any specific incident.
"The parking structure ... has lower statistics than other parts of the campus as far as auto thefts and break-ins," Cabral said.
During the fall 2002 semester, eight cars were stolen on campus, two of them from the parking structure, she said. In the spring 2003 semester, 14 cars were stolen on campus, only two from the structure.
There were more than 20 reported car break-ins on the 320-acre campus during the spring 2002 semester, most frequently at the parking lots at the School of Architecture, Hawaiian Studies, student housing and along Dole Street. Figures were about the same last semester, Cabral said.
The most common violations in the structure are tailgating and drinking. Assaults and drug use are the next most common.
"In past years, before they had the Freeman guards in the structure, they averaged 12 to 16 car thefts," Cabral said. "The parking office responded by increasing the number of Freeman guards.
"They had immediate results, but it is very expensive to have the guards. Though the initial cost of installing the cameras seems high, it will be cheaper in the long run."
There are no plans to install cameras in other parking areas on campus, she said.
Photography major Malia Leinau said she feels safer parking off campus, but uses the structure for convenience.
"There are a lot of break-ins," she said. "I've had a lot of friends have stuff stolen."
There were car break-ins nearly every week at the music department lot toward the end of last semester, Leinau said, and many costly instruments were stolen.
"If people leave bags in cars, they will get stolen," she said. "They usually don't get much money, but they get your notes. Right before finals, you'll lose all your notebooks."
Leinau is not sure the cameras will be more effective than the security guards.
"Is someone really going to monitor them, and are they actually going to do anything about it? I don't know if just having a camera would deter people."
Cabral said Freeman Guards, which runs security for campus parking areas, will continue to have guards roaming the structure after the cameras are installed, and a monitoring room is being set up. Campus security will be called if illegal activities are seen, she said.
The system will be paid for with money collected from parking permits and fees. It is expected to be installed before school begins in August.
• • •
