Holland's Hope College launches pilot program using surveillance cameras

By Sharon Hanks

A stroll down Hope College's campus near Holland seems like a picturesque dream scene from another era, with its stately historic buildings and old whispering pines.

But the private college widely known for its high academic standards and deep roots to Christianity is not about to take for granted the safety of its 3,200 students, faculty and staff have enjoyed for generations.

The college is testing for the first time the benefit of surveillance cameras, a common safety device used for several years by a number of campuses nationwide, including Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Central Michigan, Michigan Tech, Western Michigan, Harvard, and Brown.

Since mid-January, the college has been taping the campus goings-on with five new surveillance cameras. Four cameras are situated inside the Martha Miller Center which houses expensive radio, television and computer equipment. A fifth monitors parking lot activities outside nearby Kollen Hall.

"We're not sure it's going to be a benefit," says Greg Maybury, Hope College's director of operations, adding that the college already maintains a "safe community" for its students compared to other campuses.

But the administration wants a 30- to 90-day test period to make an educated decision on the installation, he adds. "A place like Calvin has more than 140 of them (cameras)."

Results so far? Well, no one is monitoring the cameras, adds Maybury, saying "that would be expensive." No suspicious behavior has been reported that requires the need to download and replay the tapes for review, Maybury says. After the footage is kept for 48 hours, officials rewrite over it and tape new activities, he adds.

Once the semester ends in early May, Maybury says a final evaluation will take place to determine whether the benefits are worth the expense. It cost more than $5,000 to install the equipment and software, he says, adding the surveillance "can get expensive."

Sources: Greg Maybury, Hope College's director of operations; websites of these colleges: Harvard, Brown, Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Michigan Tech and Marygrove.

Sharon Hanks is innovations and jobs news editor at Rapid Growth Media. Please send story ideas and comments for the column to Sharon at [email protected]. She also is owner of The Write Words in Grand Rapids.