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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, AUGUST 17 2009
CAMPUS
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Emergency blue phones used inappropriately
KU Public Safety Office receives about three calls a day, with some that aren't emergencies
BY JUSTIN HILLEY jhilley@kansan.com
Though a measure of safety, the 82 blue emergency phones in and around campus buildings are often misused. Additionally the effectiveness of the phones is hampered by the logistics standing to make a call when someone feels that they are in danger.
them. When the button is pushed, a call goes to the KU Public Safety
Photo illustration by Chance Dibben/KANSAN
Though the emergency blue phones on campus are meant to be used in emergency situations, that's not always what happens.
The emergency blue phones were installed in the 1970s. There are 45 phones around campus and an additional 37 inside campus buildings. They
CHRIS KEARY Assistant chief for the public safety office
"If someone misuses an emergency phone or misuses 911, we still send an officer to check to make sure everything's okay..."
contain a yellow box with a button and instructions on how to use
Office as a signal of distress.
ChrisKeary,assistant chief for the public safety office, said the department received about three calls from the emergency phones per day.
Keary said there were two main reasons people used the phones: One is
for emergency purposes, and the other one, which is more common.
is for informational purposes such as directions.
People sometimes use them inappropriately.
"The one use of them would be
the misuse of them, and that would be someone just pushing the button and leaving or pushing the button and not saying anything, either from not understanding it or wanting to see what happens. We get those occasionally," Keary said.
Keary said that most of the time it was probably somebody pushing the button and running off.
still send an officer to check to make sure everything's okay because it is possible that someone was having a medical problem and were able to push the button, but were unable to
"If someone misuses an emergency phone or misuses 911,we
"I'll feel that I'm in danger, I'm not going to stand at that phone and call someone."
PAIGEHENDRICK Leawood senior
say anything." Keary said.
Paige Hendrick, Leawood senior,
said she was not going to wait around
to use the phones if she felt unsafe.
"If I feel that I'm in danger, I'm not going to stand at that phone and
call someone," Hendrick said. "I'm going to keep walking and take my cell phone"
Keary said that he knew most people had cell phones,but that the
emergency phones still had a role.
"They are still an additional manner to contact the police. And even though cell phones are very prominent, emergency phones still have their uses out there."
Hendrick said there was one occasion when she would use the emergency phones.
"There have been times when my phone has died, and if my phone was dead in that situation, I definitely would go looking for one. But I'd probably end up getting hurt just trying to find one if I was really in danger," Hendrick said.
It is not against the law to misuse the emergency direct line phones, but if someone was found misusing the phones, an officer would instruct them on the proper use of the phone.
Keary said misuse was just part of the job. He said he was not sure if the phones would ever go away.
"I'll never say never," Keary said.
Edited by Brandy Entsminger