Prank calls aside, phones do more good than harm
Though they may be used more by pranksters and curious kids than was originally intended, the emergency call boxes located throughout campus are still serving important purposes every day.
USU police responded to 80 calls triggered from the phones in 2005, the majority of which were false alarms and non-emergencies, Lt. Steve Milne said.
“But even if 79 of those calls were false alarms, it is still worth it to respond to all of them because one of those could be a life-threatening emergency,” he said, recalling an instance of a tennis player who suffered a heart attack and was able to receive assistance when police responded to the alarm.
Rachel Brighton, coordinator for USU’s Sexual Assault and Anti-Violence Information (SAAVI) Office, said the phones serve even more of a purpose on campus than what they are meant to be used for.
“Whether or not the phones are used to report emergencies every day, their presence still sends a clear message that violence, especially violence against women, is not tolerated at USU,” Brighton said.
According to a 2003 report on sexual assault by the Department of Justice, 34 percent of completed rapes and 45 percent of attempted rapes take place on college campuses nationally. In an effort to address this problem at USU and provide another element of safety, a group of students in a mid-’80s Anthropology of Sex and Gender class came up with the idea to add emergency phones throughout campus, Professor Richley Crapo said.
Crapo, a professor in the department of sociology, social work and anthropology who taught and currently teaches the class, said the students initiated the plans and were able to have the boxes approved and installed with the university’s assistance. The original plans implemented just a few phones, but today there are 15 emergency phones on campus.
When the call boxes are activated, two-way communication is immediately opened and the dispatcher will ask what the emergency is, Milne said. The blue light on top of the box will flash to let others know of an emergency and regardless of whether or not the dispatcher receives an answer, an officer is sent to the location of the call.
Besides discouraging violence on campus, Brighton said the phones are also an important symbol of comfort and safety.
“As a woman out alone at night walking across campus – even in a safe community like ours – that can be a scary thing,” she said. “It is important that the phones are there to provide a kind of safety net and a feeling that you’re not completely alone.”
Milne said the phones are abused frequently in a variety of ways. Other than just pushing the button and walking away, he said people have triggered the alarm for reasons like car problems or being lost on campus. Since the police will respond to all of these calls, Milne recommends a cell phone or other means be used for assistance with non-emergencies. He also warns that pranksters have been and will be cited with a class-C misdemeanor for triggering a false alarm.
-lindsaykite@cc.usu.edu