In a campus broadcast on Friday, Sept. 30, Georgia State announced the release of its annual safety and security report. According to the report, the university police department claims the title of the largest campus police department in the state with 142 officers on all six campuses.
Chief of Georgia State University Police, Carlton Mullis says there are multiple upgrades in university safety this year to prevent incidents like last year’s armed robberies. Mullis‘ first step was to eliminate non-Georgia State visitor access to the library until better security measures were put in place.
An increase in security personnel was the next immediate action. Now there are between 5 and 6 security guards assigned to the library during all times of day. Mullis said there will be 75 more police officers hired for the Atlanta campus in the next year, to serve along the current staff of 75.
There is a new visitor in-check processor similar to corporate security and about two hundred cameras in Library North alone. Cameras and alarms have been placed in the very spot the suspected robber(s) got away.
“All of the lower exits of the stairwells have the motion detector camera alarms. If someone goes into that area [now] it sets off motion detector and a camera view pops up at the security desk immediately”, said Mullis. “[Also] There are now cameras outside to see where the person has gone”, he said.
“We haven’t had an issue [robbery in the library] since we started all these processors,” Mullis said.
Uniform Division Commander for Georgia State University Police Department Bart Hulsey said the Atlanta campus is safer with the new procedures that were implicated.
“It was safe before [the campus robberies], these were isolated incidents. It was dealt with in a swift and decisive manner by Dr. Becker and the [Georgia State] police department,” he said. “Yes, it is safer. We [Georgia State Police Department] have always thrived to have a safe campus and have been very successful at that.”
According to Mullis Perimeter campuses are quieter than the Atlanta campus because they’re smaller and more secluded.
“We [at the Atlanta campus] tend to be a little more locked down here because we are in the middle of everything. Some of the other campuses tend to be more like traditional campuses. They may not have some of the same security concerns we have, ” Mullis said. “What goes on, on the Downtown campus and the Newton campus is very, very different.”
Hulsey told The Signal the most common crime on the Perimeter campus is “petty theft”. He said students, faculty and staff can help deter “petty theft” on campus by putting their valuables away and keeping things out of sight when left unattended. Hulsey encourages students to build a relationship with campus police officers.
Uniform Division Commander for Georgia State University Police Department Bart Hulsey said the Atlanta campus is safer with the new procedures that were implicated.
I believe the word should have been “implemented.”