Fwd: FW: Security Cameras on Tufts Campus

[Rachel Greenspan]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Greenspan, Rachel E. <Rachel_E....@tufts.edu>
Date: Thu, Sep 13, 2012 at 11:02 AM
Subject: FW: Security Cameras on Tufts Campus
To: "racheleri...@gmail.com" <racheleri...@gmail.com>





________________________________________
From: Public...@tufts.edu
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2012 11:01:58 AM (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
To: Greenspan, Rachel E.
Subject: Security Cameras on Tufts Campus

Tufts University
Department of Public and Environmental Safety
Video Security on Campus

Tufts University embraces the ideals of providing a living, working and learning environment that is open and conducive to creative thought, freedom of expression and individual privacy. Tufts equally recognizes its responsibility to provide a safe and secure environment that protects its students, faculty, and staff and is committed to enhancing the quality of life of the campus community by integrating the best practices of safety, security, and technology into a comprehensive public safety program. Achieving the desirable balance of openness, privacy, and security requires extensive planning, community engagement, and careful implementation of a public safety philosophy that seeks to prevent crime and respond to it effectively when it does occur.

While university environments are generally safe, from time to time serious safety and security related incidents can occur, and it is critical to take measures to prevent them wherever possible.  An important and common element of university safety is video security, a powerful tool that can prevent incidents and provide critical evidence for effective investigation. A well-planned video security program focused on crime prevention and risk reduction consists of strategically placed cameras from which video signals are transmitted to a central location where they are recorded and can be viewed both in real-time and after the fact by public safety professionals trained in their use. A comprehensive video security program provides:
1)      Protection of people and property by serving as a deterrent against criminal activity; as an investigative tool post-incident; and as an asset to enhance response capabilities and provide public safety personnel with real-time awareness of incidents.
2)      Operational support - streaming live video from areas that must be monitored by staff members who cannot be physically present around the clock.  For instance, when monitoring the well-being of research animals in labs, or for monitoring the well-being of horses being treated at the Veterinary hospital.

The Tufts Department of Public and Environmental Safety (DPES) is in the process of developing a comprehensive University policy for the use of video security on all domestic campuses: Boston, Grafton and Medford/Somerville.  Through the governance of the policy, Tufts University will utilize video security as a tool for crime prevention, emergency response, and criminal investigation. In order to ensure the protection of individual privacy rights in accordance with the University's core values and state and federal laws, this policy will formalize procedures for the installation of video security equipment and the handling, viewing, retention, dissemination, and destruction of video security records. The policy will be based on research and review of other higher education institution video security policies as well as the expertise and experience of Tufts DPES personnel and other University resources.

An integral part of the policy development process is community engagement.  DPES is actively seeking the input of our various stakeholders across our campuses, including University leadership, faculty, staff, and students. In order to obtain broad community input, DPES will next be reaching out to faculty, staff, and students, soliciting their participation in upcoming community meetings. These meetings will provide the University community with an outline of this project and its goals and objectives.  Most of the meeting time will be reserved as a forum for all groups to express their thoughts and questions regarding video security on campus. The community meeting scheduled for the Medford/Somerville Campus is:

Medford/Somerville Campus
September 18th, 5:30-6:30pm, 001 Braker Hall

In the event that you cannot attend the community meeting, please visit our web page at http://publicsafety.tufts.edu.  Go to the link Video Security on Campus.  There you will find a frequently asked questions (FAQ) link, and two separate means by which you can pose questions, concerns and/or comments:  by either identifying yourself or remaining anonymous.

Tufts University is committed to an open and transparent policy development process.  We invite you to our meeting or to submit your input through our web page.  We look forward to your advice and counsel.

Regards,

Kevin C. Maguire
Tufts University
Director of Public and Environmental Safety

[Katja Torres]

I know... wtf are we doing about this? You guys planning on going to the community meeting? Should further action be taken? Cuz I think there should...

Sent from my iPad

[Rachel Greenspan]

Nothing planned yet...I'm already over committed with other initiatives so I can't be a core organizer on this but would love to support some other folks in mobilizing around this!

[Duncan MacLaury]

I can go to the meeting and take notes but I can't promise any real time commitment to do anything. I basically want to know where they are planning on putting cameras (because personally I'm not against them on the edges of campus (where we actually have safety issues - also, why don't we have blue lights on the edges of campus?) or in labs).

-Duncan