Residential community safety officers will staff all Syracuse University residence hall entrances 24/7 for the spring semester.

SU’s Department of Public Safety announced plans in September to hire 90 full-time, licensed residential community safety officers to station the entrances of each residence hall and validate the IDs of individuals entering the building.

“The final group of RCSOs have completed their interviews and will complete the hiring and training process by the end of January,” said Christine Weber, DPS public information and internal communications officer, in an email.

The change is part of a series of new safety initiatives DPS launched this year in response to at least 20 hate crimes and bias-related incidents reported at or near SU since early November. Racist graffiti targeting black, Asian, Jewish and indigenous students has been found written in several residence halls and other campus buildings.

DPS also said in September that it would install 11 security cameras in the area surrounding Euclid Avenue as part of the safety initiatives. Nine cameras are already installed in the Euclid area.

“The funding for this project has been approved and is with the city,” Weber said. The city is responsible for purchasing and installing the new cameras, she said.

DPS Chief Bobby Maldonado told The Daily Orange in September that the cameras were expected to be up by mid-October.

The Syracuse Police Department will be responsible for monitoring the cameras and will work with DPS to patrol the area, SPD spokesperson Sgt. Matthew Malinowski said. The main purpose of the cameras will be to assist in ongoing investigations, he said.

Syverud also announced plans to install new security cameras in “strategic locations,” with a focus on stairwells, elevators, exterior locations and common spaces, in a campus security update in November.

DPS introduced a Bias Incident Reports website in late November to consolidate public safety updates. The page will be “continuously updated” with information about hate speech and bias-incidents within 48 hours, Maldonado said in a campus-wide email Nov. 30.

Information about at least two bias incidents — one reported on Dec. 27 and one on Jan. 5 — has not been posted to the website.

“The Department of Public Safety is actively investigating the matter and following leads on this alleged incident,” a university spokesperson said of the Dec. 27 incident in a Jan. 4 statement. The spokesperson did not provide further comment to avoid compromising the investigation.

#NotAgainSU, a black student-led movement, has criticized the Bias Incident Reports webpage, claiming the webpage places a responsibility on students to notify themselves of incidents. DPS previously provided alerts via email, but was advised by law enforcement that the repeated distribution of email notifications is likely to motivate copycats, Maldonado said in a campus-wide email Nov. 30.

Published on January 12, 2020 at 11:16 pm

Contact Michael: msessa@syr.edu | @MichaelSessa3