A Code Blue emergency station is seen on campus Monday, March 30. DM Photo | Kayla Beatty
The University of Mississippi has placed 17th in University Primetime’s “50 Safest Colleges in America 2014-2015 Rankings,” but one of the university’s safety devices, Code Blue, may not be fully understood by students.
“To be honest, I didn’t really know they worked,” junior Alexis Kercheval said. “I have never felt like I needed them because I already feel safe on campus as it is.”
Code Blue is a system of 19 emergency telephone poles placed strategically around campus. By pressing the blue button on the unit, a person in distress will immediately contact the University Police Department for assistance through underground phone lines that run directly to dispatchers in the office.
Jeffery Kellum, UPD Crime Prevention Coordinator, said the lines can sometimes be interrupted by construction but are scheduled for maintenance every month. Kellum said the lines will also be inspected at random times when a lot of visitors are expected on campus.
“These units are intended to improve the security profile of the campus,” Kellum said. “They seem to play a different role during football games. They are not used as much for emergency as for calls of people saying, ‘I don’t know where I am.’”
Other colleges also use this emergency system, each with its own spin. For example, the University of South Carolina has two sides to the telephone poles, one for assistance and one for emergencies.
Kellum said the university’s Code Blue Committee is looking for its own way to improve the technology. One improvement the committee has looked into would include 900 megahertz, which would keep the units from having to tie in with phone lines and end construction interference. Another option would be the use of fiber optics to include telephone and video.
“We will be able to see what is happening from the vantage point of the person pressing the button, or we will have a camera placed at a different view point to see the surroundings of the subject,” Kellum said.
With the university undergoing several different construction projects, including student housing at Northgate, the new basketball arena, the parking garage and additions to Coulter Hall and the Honors College, some students question if security can keep up with all the changes.
“As a girl on campus, I don’t feel very comfortable with the amount of blue poles on campus,” freshman Alice McKelvey said. “I can only actively locate maybe three of the poles, and they are very far away from each other. I do feel that our campus is safe, but statistically, sexual assaults happen more than we think, and I think those can be prevented if we have more of them. The ratio of units to buildings should be significantly higher, especially with the construction of more dorms and buildings.”
The Code Blue Committee has not decided when they will add more Code Blues. Kellum said they have not been granted access to the construction sites; however, when they are, the area will be assessed for possible new Code Blues.
