Passersby shared this week their differing opinions on the relevance of the dozens of blue light emergency phones around the American University campus.
Nearly five dozen of the emergency phones dot the campus in Northwest Washington, D.C., according to Chelsey Rawles, 24, a dispatcher at the American University Public Safety office.
Known as “Talk-a-Phones” to campus safety, they are equipped with a GPS location that shows exactly where the caller is on campus to ensure a quick response, according to Rawles.
Candra Reeves, 30, who said she attended the University of Georgia, recalled that campus had the emergency phones, but they’ve since been removed, according to the University of Georgia police department’s website. As of April 2014, they had been removed and the police department on the Athens, Georgia campus cited the growing ubiquity of mobile phones that could be used as an alternative to the emergency phone boxes.
Reeves gets that logic.
“If I’m in danger, that’s not my first thought, to find a blue phone,” Reeves said. Instead she said she thinks to find her cell phone.
But, others disagreed, arguing that Talk-a-Phones may still provide important safety measures.
Rawles estimates that the office receives calls from the Talk-a-Phones no more than a couple of times a month. Rawles was uncertain if there was ever an explanation about the Talk-a-Phones and how to use them, but thought it probable that the phones were explained at an orientation of some sort.
When asked if Rawles thought the Talk-a-Phones made American’s campus safer despite the low frequency of calls, her response was immediate. Rawles was extremely supportive of the Talk-a-Phones, referencing their GPS feature as an important part of the safety they ensured.
“I think they make it safer because it shows exact location,” Rawles said.
The GPS feature on the Talk-a-Phones helps security or police who respond to the call locate the person quickly. Rawles said that it takes only a few minutes at most for a security member to reach the position of the Talk-a-Phone being used.
Kenneth Ferguson, 47, attended Clark University and worked as a student security officer.
Ferguson agreed with Rawles that the Talk-a-Phones are still helpful to ensure safety on college campuses. According to Ferguson, Clark University also had a similar security measure. However, at the time of his attendance, the phones were red instead of blue.
Ferguson recalled that the emergency phones at Clark also provided students with an escort to their destination. When people at Clark used the phones, it was most often to call for a ride rather than to call for help due to a threat, he remembered.
While Ferguson had never used a phone himself, he was adamant about the Talk-a-Phone’s importance.
“It’s always better to have something and not use it, than not have something,” Ferguson said.
