Correction appended.
Ohio University Housing and Residence Life will be installing more cameras near residence halls on campus.
Pete Trentacoste, the executive director of Housing and Residence Life, said the project includes installing cameras at all entrances, exits, lobbies and staff offices of residence halls.
“Each camera is $1,500-$2,000 depending on capability when you factor installation cost in,” Trentacoste said in an email.
Cable is being installed, and the cameras will be installed once each building has been cabled, he said. About 400 video cameras will be installed across all halls that do not have cameras.
The locations to install the cameras near each residence hall are based on a standard from past installations starting in 2012, Trentacoste said. Cameras are in approximately 20 percent of the residence halls, and it is anticipated for all of the residence halls to have cameras by the end of the academic year.
“Additional buildings have been added since that time as renovations or new construction has occurred,” he said in an email. “Cameras have always been planned as part of our capital work, but we recently decided to escalate the installation of cameras.”
In 2012, Voigt Hall was the first residence hall to be equipped with video cameras, according to a previous Post report. In 2017, Jefferson Hall was the most recent residence hall to have cameras installed, Trentacoste said.
While the cameras are to be installed near the halls, the privacy of students is considered, Trentacoste said.
“The field of view is tested to ensure it is not covering a location that should provide an expectation of privacy (e.g., student room),” he said in an email.
All camera footage will be managed by the OU Police Department, Trentacoste said, but the footage is not monitored in real time.
If a camera stops working, OUPD will be notified automatically, OUPD Lt. Tim Ryan said.
Kira Russell, a junior studying health care administration, said the new cameras might help but problems could still occur.
“Not necessarily do residence halls need the cameras,” she said. “The issue usually occurs when students are walking back late at night.”
Correction: A previous version of this report incorrectly stated who monitors the footage. The article has been updated to reflect the most accurate information.
