UPDATED: Aug. 30, 2017 at 1:48 a.m.

Security cameras, shuttles and “target hardening” efforts will be rolled out to improve safety in the off-campus community near Syracuse University this semester.

Ten security camera poles — each equipped with one to five cameras — will be built in the off-campus area east of SU soon, said Alex Lynch, a Department of Public Safety security analyst and founder of the security camera project.

The Syracuse Common Council approved the project in July.

About $126,000 Lynch raised in the past year is being transferred to a city fund before installation can begin. SU, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, local landlords and the Syracuse Police Department received the money allocated for this project.

“I’m happy that cameras are about to be installed and will finally have an impact on crime in the neighborhood,” Lynch said.

Each camera costs approximately $13,000 and has 360-degree high quality video recording capability.

The cameras will span from Westcott Street to Comstock Avenue on Euclid Avenue, and from Lancaster Avenue to Comstock Avenue on Stratford Street, Lynch said. The cameras will also cover three blocks of Lancaster, Ackerman and Ostrom avenues, as well as two blocks of Sumner Avenue.

These cameras will be installed by late September, Lynch said SPD told him, but the idea is to install more cameras as more funds are raised. This is only the first phase of the project, said Lynch.

“My goal is to reduce crime in the neighborhood and make students feel safer and actually increase safety,” Lynch said.

SPD will have full control over monitoring and maintaining the cameras, and Lynch will analyze and research their effectiveness in the community.

The camera project was Lynch’s capstone when he studied citizenship and civic engagement at SU. He said the reason he stayed in Syracuse was to see his project completed.

SU’s Student Association donated $30,000 to the camera project, said SA President James Franco. He said SA will be monitoring the success of the cameras this year and will determine how the investment affects crime.

SA is also partnering with landlords and local organizations to help with target hardening in off-campus neighborhoods, Franco said. Target hardening is taking actions such as cutting down trees and bushes and installing lights.

“I actually see target hardening as the most effective way (to cut back crime),” Franco said. “I think that may be the most cost-effective, impactful way to affect safety in off-campus neighborhoods, such as Euclid.”

Ben Tupper, a landlord for 70 houses in the eastern off-campus community, is an advocate for security precautions like the camera project and target hardening.

“It kills me to get an email, ‘Someone climbed through a window and stole my laptop,’” Tupper said.

He donated $30,000 to the security camera project when Lynch approached him and even reached out to other landlords about the initiative, Tupper said.

In addition to the camera donation, Tupper said he takes his own security precautions to best protect his tenants. He sends reminder emails to lock doors and keep lights on in the house and recently has been doing his own target hardening.

Tupper has also been installing LED lights on his homes, he said.

DPS has its own measures of on-campus target hardening, said DPS Chief Bobby Maldonado, by keeping trees and bushes short so that people cannot hide in them and maintaining a well-lit campus.

Though little has changed with DPS this summer, Maldonado said they are excited for the off-campus advances.

“We may not have jurisdiction in the off-campus areas, but we still proactively patrol in those areas because so many of our students live there,” Maldonado said. “So we’re always happy to see there are more resources to serve not only in a preventive measure but also in a reactive measure to crime when it happens.”

SA is also working on a shuttle and ride-hailing project to improve transportation in off-campus neighborhoods.

A partnership between SA and Uber is in its early stages, Franco said.

At the first SA meeting of the fall semester, the assembly approved an Uber pilot partnership that would give SU students access to a $10 Uber coupon between Friday at 5 p.m. and Sunday at noon.

A shuttle, in partnership with parking services or Centro, would run during hours students frequently go off-campus.

Franco said the shuttle would loop in the most popular off-campus neighborhoods. The goal of the project is to have the shuttles run constantly at the most popular hours of the night for students who need transportation home or to campus.

“We’re hoping to have it up and going this year,” Franco said.

The post has been updated with appropriate style.

Published on August 29, 2017 at 9:46 pm

Contact Catherine: ccleffer@syr.edu | @ccleffert