By Samuel Shanes

Towson University is the second largest university in Maryland and a member of the University System of Maryland. It enrolls more than 16,000 students, including international students from nearly 100 countries. Towson's 328-acre campus is located in the suburban community of Towson, eight miles north of downtown Baltimore. Established in 1866, Towson is nationally recognized for its excellent programs in the arts, sciences, business, communications, humanities, health professions, education and computer information systems. Towson has three multi-level parking structures on campus to accommodate the needs of students, faculty, and guests. Security, as well a service, is a key concern in the operation of these facilities, as well as the campus at large. Essential to those efforts is the strategic use of lighting, and the use the Emergency Phones throughout the parking facilities and the campus.

The University makes a concerted effort to educate those on campus regarding sensible security procedures. A quick visit to its Web site (www.towson.edu) gives you a sense of this effort.

The University publishes a brochure entitled, Community Safety Watch, in which it gives this guidance:

If you are being followed, go to a well-lit, occupied area, blue light emergency phone, or a police station. Do not go home.

Similarly, the University advises that any member of the university community who is the victim of a crime on campus, or who witnesses a crime on campus, should call the University Police immediately at ext. 2133 (410-704-2133) or by pushing the button on any "blue light" or yellow emergency phone.

Expanded Program

In recent years Towson has considerably expanded it Emergency Phone program, particularly in the parking facilities. Craig Fringer, a Telecommunications Specialist for Towson University, has been involved in the operation and expansion of the Emergency Phone system on campus.

In a recent interview, Craig discussed the Emergency Phone system in the parking facilities.

We have three parking structures on campus. We are now specifying Emergency Phones for use throughout our facilities. We tie the entire system into our NEC2400 telephone switch. We have also integrated our access control and CCTV systems in the parking facilities with the emergency phone.

In two of our garages, the phones replaced existing equipment. The installation was part of project completed in mid-Summer 2001. The new phones allow for the integration of the call stations with the CCTV installed under the same project. The third garage was completed in August 2002 and the phones were installed during construction."

The phones are located on each parking deck at each stair tower. This locates the phones near established exits and helps commuter students become familiar with their locations. It also assists visitors in locating the phones because they are along the natural egress routes.

Said Fringer: "The selection of these particular phones was mostly to establish a standard and minimize the inventory required to support emergency phones. In addition, it provides the added benefit of a courtesy phone for use by our community. We do have the ETP-400 in some locations and several ETP-100's in elevators. We have approximately 27 tower phones located around campus and 13 wall mount phones, in addition to the garages. Our towers support bus stops and common areas. We also use phones for building entrances to allow visitors to contact someone inside for access.

Combination Units

These combination units allow someone in need of emergency assistance to simply push the red button, which not only places an emergency call to the Universitys Police Department, but also activates the strobe, calling attention to the location. In this manner, others passing by can possibly render assistance, particularly in the case of a medical emergency. Although the campus is quite safe, the strobe would also encourage anyone threatening another person to flee.

When the emergency call comes in, the police communications operator evaluates the call and promptly and efficiently dispatches the proper personnel to the exact location. By integrating the CCTV with the Emergency phones, the police operator is able to automatically see and well as hear what is occurring. The integration is easily accomplished by using the auxiliary output on the Emergency phone. When the red emergency button is pushed, the phone automatically provides a contact closure for the CCTV.

Pushing the black button on the phone marked Call activates the keypad on the phone. Upon hearing dial tone the user can simply enter whatever extension they wish to call. The phone can even be used to access extensions, leave voice-mail, and perform other phone options. Should the user push the red Emergency button at any time, the phone will automatically disconnect from the regular call and call security.

Fringer continues, We have found the units to be extremely reliable and durable, and are very happy with them. We currently have almost 100 units on campus, and anticipate increasing the total to more than 150 over the next 12-18 months.

"We also use Emergency phones at our bus stops and other key locations. There is no question that installing the Emergency Phones in our parking facilities has significantly enhanced both security and service.

Towson University selected the ETP-400K Emergency Phones from Talk-A-Phone.

Reproduced with Permission of Parking Today
http://www.parkingtoday.com