Beginning this semester, Brewster, Boland and Brockway residence halls no longer have residential security aide staffing 24 hours a day.

The staffing at BBB will now match the hours of other residence halls on campus, with staff checking for Syracuse University I.D. cards from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m., seven days a week. The new policy went into effect Aug. 15 for those arriving early for move-in.

Jill Lentz, associate chief for the Department of Public Safety, said DPS meets with different departments on campus every year to see what can be changed or improved. This summer, they met with the Office of Residence Life and the Office of Housing, Meal Plan and I.D. Card Services, and discussed the topic of RSA staffing at BBB.

“We looked at the stats and there really wasn’t the data there to say we need to have 24-hour staffing,” she said.

While considering the change, they also looked at BBB compared to other residence halls. Lentz said it is the same as others in that the main desks are staffed. and students from other dorms and food and mail delivery workers can enter the building during the day.

By looking at statistics from the other residence halls on campus, Lentz said they found that BBB did not have more activity during the day than other halls. In addition, DPS pulled stats for all of 2013 to look at the calls they received from BBB.

“It’s usually injury calls, illness calls, maybe a larceny call, but there really hasn’t been the type of calls where it’s non-affiliated people getting into the building,” she said.

Bill Longcore, associate director in the Office of Residence Life, said eliminating the 24-hour staffing policy had come up in discussions with DPS in the past, but this year they decided to enact the new policy. There were several things that have changed over the last 10 years that influenced the decision, he said.

One example is the many closed-circuit television cameras on campus that are installed at all residence halls, which monitor main entries, public areas on campus and pedestrian and vehicle traffic.

“We feel we have really good coverage and an understanding of traffic that comes into and out of residence halls,” Longcore said.

Another factor that has changed is the surrounding area of the residence hall complex, Longcore said. Campus West apartments, additional parking and the opening of the new College of Law building have all made the surrounding area more populated.

“It no longer has the perception of isolation it had a number of years ago,” he said.

Longcore said residence life staff that has worked in the building in previous years thought making the change was a good decision, saying there was really no reason to have RSAs in the building 24 hours a day.

Lentz added that it was a decision that all parties involved agreed upon and DPS hasn’t received any concerns or questions about the new procedure.

Said Lentz: “We carefully considered everything and discussed it with residence life and housing and everybody was on board with it.”

Published on August 27, 2014 at 12:01 am

Contact Brett: blsamuel@syr.edu | @Brett_Samuels27