CCTV in CAU, Is It All Right?

           On July 3^rd, a man ran away after biting the toe of a girl student who was studying at Building 310. The case, the so-called CAU Weasel man, has not yet been caught. Two weeks after the weasel incident, a drunk student walked into the hall with his upper body exposed and police were dispatched. In the latter case, no victims were involved and the incident can be judged simply as accidental. In the former case, the act was a grim sex crime. It is not just a matter of Building 310. Between this April and May, six theft cases in a row occurred at Building 203, but the cases went unsolved due to the absence of CCTVs. CCTV in CAU: is it all right?

1. CCTVs In CAU

Currently, exactly 631 CCTVs are operating in the CAU Seoul Campus. There are 199 units in buildings 310, which is the largest building, 92 units in building 102 and 91 units in building 204. In addition, there are 39 units in building 207 and 36 units in building 303. These CCTVs are usually installed on floors connected to outside entrances and are not installed in areas where privacy is feared to be violated, such as toilets and classrooms. Such places where CCTVs cannot be installed are being linked to private security firms to manage security through various ways. In the case of classrooms, offices, laboratories and administrative offices, separate access systems contacting electronic cards to terminals were installed and emergency bells were installed in toilets. There are about 900 emergency bells, installed mostly in women's restrooms. The emergency bell is jointly operated by a private supplement company and a comprehensive anti-disaster center at CAU. When an emergency bell is pressed, a rescue request is sent to the management department in charge and a nearby private security company or school guard is dispatched. Where there are no security devices, meticulous attention is paid through periodic patrols.

2. Problems of CCTV In CAU

a. Deterioration of CCTV

           CCTVs were around 303 pavilions in December of last year, but they were too old to do their job properly. CAU's aging CCTV cameras has 410,000 pixels. At around 410,000 pixels, it is difficult to identify a suspect because it is hard to correctly identify a person’s face. Furthermore, at night, it is almost impossible to monitor. Unlike the newest CCTV, the aging CCTV have limitations of the number of installations and recording time depending on the installation environment. However, such aging CCTVs account for half of the CCTVs in CAU Seoul campus. Moreover, most high-quality CCTVs are concentrated in the recently built Building 310. Therefore, CCTVs in the rest of the buildings are almost useless.  Accordingly, a lot of opinions have been voiced on the need for upgrades to CCTV systems on campus. In response, the CAU general affairs team has said, "It is true that replacing aging CCTVs is needed, but CAU would need to spend more than 400 million won to replace them and the cost burden is too high." Therefore, the aging CCTVs have yet to be replaced and there is no short-term plan for replacing them.

b. Limited CCTV Locations

           Many students try to look up CCTV records when items are stolen. However, CCTV records are often of poor quality and therefore lead nowhere. Faces of thieves are hard to recognize, and often records are unavailable because there are no CCTVs in the locations where a theft occurred. In fact, theft cases often occur at CAU, but rarely resolved. This is because the CCTV's locations are so limited. In the case of Building 203 above, CCTVs are installed mainly at the central stairwell in front of the toilet and outside entrance, and there are no CCTVs near the locker where thefts have often occurred. Even Building 310, which has the most CCTVs, has many blind spots since CCTVs are installed intensively around the entrance and the central stairway. For these reasons, more CCTVs should be installed around campus. The reality, however, is that, like the issue of replacing outdated CCTVs, a plan to secure areas with blindspots has not been implemented due to lack of budget.

3. Interview

The student president of College of Social Sciences

Q1. Currently, CCTVs in some buildings of CAU are in urgent need of improvement. What do you think about this?

A. The building where students of the College of Social Sciences mainly take classes are Building 203 and Building 303. It has been confirmed that many students lost their items in these building during this year. Additional CCTV installation means prevention of theft and loss, but it can also mean surveillance, so we conducted a survey to investigate the necessity of installing additional CCTVs for students who actually use the building.

Q2. What kind of damage do students suffer from the aging and lack of CCTV?

A. Cameras and laptops are often being stolen in the classroom and public resting areas. In particular, the theft cases have frequently occurred in the locker areas, which have no CCTVs.

Q3. What position do you think schools should take for students?

A. In order to eradicate such crimes and relieve anxiety, more CCTVs should be installed. The CCTV survey results will be collected and forwarded to the school headquarters.

           So far, we have looked at the issue of CCTVs in CAU. School is a place that exists for students and by students. Would it be desirable for students who are the foundation of school to go to school in fear? It's only sad that many of the incidents at schools have failed to be resolved due to budget shortfalls, despite the clear cause of the problems caused by the aging and shortage of CCTVs. Therefore, the school should replace CCTVs as soon as possible and improve students' safety.