New phones upgrade security

Standing silent guard like blue-lighted sentries, new emergency phones have replaced the old ones, enhancing safety on campus by virtue of their visibility,
according to Gregg Henderson, Caltech’s chief of campus security.

“The reason they’re much more visible is that they’re 10 feet tall and they have a very bright blue light at the top that strobes when it’s activated,” he said.

“At night if you were to stand at the Athenaeum and look down the Olive Walk, you would be able to see every phone all the way to Millikan,” Henderson added.

Aside from being more conspicuous, the devices are easy to use. There is no handset, just a button that, once depressed, connects the caller immediately with campus security headquarters, where an officer is on duty at all times.

Although they are scattered campus-wide, the phones are concentrated near the student houses, the graduate housing complexes on Catalina, and the parking lots.

“We’ve gone through and replaced the old ones, and we’ve added one between the Administrative Technology Center and the Financial Services Building on Chester Avenue,” Henderson said.

A phone will be installed where the old fire station once stood, which will become a parking lot, and when construction is completed on the Broad Center, a new phone will be placed in that area as well, he said. The ATC and the two parking structures on Wilson Avenue got the wall-mounted models. Once installation is completed, the campus will have a total of 20 emergency phones.

According to Henderson, the price for each unit and its installation ran about $5,000, a small price to pay for an upgrade to Caltech’s safety infrastructure and the peace of mind it brings.
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