Holy Cross safety commitment extends to equipment solutions

Aug 1, 1998 12:00 PM, AC&SSI Staff

The College of the Holy Cross is committed to providing a secure, productive environment for its 2,700 students who enjoy some of the most sophisticated, attractive and well-maintained facilities in higher education. The beautiful 174-acre Holy Cross campus in Worcester, Mass., has won five national and international awards for excellence in architecture and landscaping. Physical surroundings reflect the college's overall standards of quality. Over the last 10 years, the college has invested more than $100 million in facilities and maintenance. The college's commitment to campus security and safety extends to equipment solutions. Originally, the school's access control system had been built around its cafeteria. But as security needs began to increase, Holy Cross began to search for an "integratable" security system. The Holy Cross security committee consultant required a sophisticated access control system to monitor nine residence hall exterior entrances with alarm monitoring, and to provide card access to all residence houses. Neil Carmody, assistant director of public safety, chose the Wa-Pac security system from Synergistics, Natick, Mass. The system provides a wide-area, automated, distributed processing system for multiple-site building management, alarm monitoring and physical access control. It is well-suited to Holy Cross' scattered-building campus, which combines direct wire and dial-up communications. Secure campus doors are a top priority. The system permits Holy Cross to restrict access in certain locations through flexible access codes. Vandalism has been reduced, because security can identify witnesses who may have observed an incident. According to Carmody: "Several types of investigations have resulted over the years. In combination with other investigative techniques, the system has helped identify people and situations to find perpetrators." During one alleged incident, Carmody was able to identify more than 47 witnesses who had passed the area where an incident had been reported. But after talking to several witnesses, Carmody discovered no crime had taken place. "The system has reduced our larceny complaints by about 80 percent," he says. "For example, on football weekends we don't have people wandering through our residence buildings. The student population actually makes the security system effective because they become more responsible for their environment, " Carmody explains. Campus ID cards are another component of student security and are required for a majority of campus activities such as food service, purchase of books, access to the pub, library, college events and athletic facilities. Not only do ID cards make the system more effective, but if lost, they can be replaced within 24 hours and the old ones removed from the system. When contemplating the purchase or upgrade of an access control system, Carmody says management must be committed to making the system work. "Our physical plant team conducts regular routine building maintenance and responds to complaints and other required maintenance above and beyond the call of duty."

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