The College Fix

The causes of nearly 80 percent of the campus emergency call box activations made during the 2009-10 school year remain unknown, with only two calls listed as “valid,” or needing assistance, according to UT Police Department records.

Call boxes were first introduced to the University in the 1970s as a way for students, faculty and staff to contact the police when they needed assistance. They have since been used for a variety of reasons, including motorist assistance, directions and suspicious persons and criminal activity reports. The call boxes were activated 147 times during the last year, UTPD Officer William Pieper said.

In most cases, the cause and caller of the call box activations were unidentified. Officers searched the surrounding area to make sure no one needed any assistance and found nothing. UTPD records showed that 13 out of the 147 activations were caused by malfunctioning equipment and accidental activation by repair crews. Only 12 were activated by students, and two were listed as “valid,” meaning that the caller needed assistance.

The system acts as a telephone and dials the campus police dispatch number. Once a call is placed, the dispatcher can pinpoint the location of the box and send an officer to the scene.

[…] Call boxes cost anywhere between $4,500 and $7,500 to install, depending on power or voice line distances and infrastructure obstacles, said Liz Aebersold, director of the Office of the Vice President for Information Technology. Aebersold said the maintenance on the phone line cost $175 annually.

Read the full story at the Daily Texan.

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