By Shane Dingman
Ryerson security is upping their presence on campus, but there’s no need to feel paranoid.
The men in black are just cracking down on crime in the neighborhood.
“We can’t eliminate crime – we can only try to limit its effect on our community,” said Janet Mays, director of Equity, Harassment and Safety Services.
Since October ‘97, safety services has increased security’s domain.
Protecting Ryerson from the increased criminal activity in the neighborhood meant finding enough dough to keep us safe.
The Ministry of Education and Training provided a $35,000 grant to beef up training and make physical renovations. Most of that cash bought the blue security phones near Pitman Happ, beside the interior Design building and in the Quad.
Other funding came from Linda Grayson, Ryerson’s v.p. Administration, who Mays said diverted “a chunk of money” from the deferred maintenance fund to replace several security doors around campus.
The other major change was security’s own spend-thrifty ways.
“Two years ago we were paying over $76,000 to have all our systems monitored by an off-campus company,” said Terry Ladouceur, security services manager.
“Now all that’s monitored off-campus is our fire alarm system, which is required by law.”
Ryerson shells out 30,000 a year for this remaining off-campus system.
Mays is excited to see the most recent change in security services policy – increased patrolling of security officers.
Other protective measures include increasing the number and quality of motion detectors in campus buildings and implementing bike patrols.
After-hours card access was added to security doors, including those at the Interior Design building and the east entrances to Kerr Hall.
“We haven’t caught more (campus crooks),” said Ladouceur. “But our changes are deterrents,” especially from thieves who walk in off the street and steal, he added.
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