GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) - Barry DuVall and his staff spend their days developing personal safety devices for students at East Carolina University.
Their work began after the murders last spring of a pair of students at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. The women were killed by a current and a former student. Both men subsequently committed suicide.
Murders aren't the only concern on campus. There were 16 rapes and 52 aggravated assaults in North Carolina's 16 campuses in 2003, according to The U.S. Justice Department. An ECU student was robbed at knifepoint while sitting on the steps of the campus library in December, DuVall said.
While many campuses, including East Carolina's, are equipped with "blue light" phones where people in danger can press a button to alert authorities, the phones are stationary while the students are mobile.
So companies are developing "panic button" devices that can be carried on a key ring or pendant. When pressed, the button sends a signal - sometimes through the nearest blue-light station - that alerts campus security officials.
DuVall and his colleagues at the ECU Technology Advancement Center are testing several systems, most of which use either infrared or cellular technology. Some are wireless, others hard-wired.
"We have certainly been supportive of this type of approach for a long time," said Daniel Carter, senior vice president of Security on Campus, a nonprofit lobbying group based in King of Prussia, Pa., which was founded after the 1986 rape and murder of a Lehigh University student.
Several companies offer systems designed to work with blue-light phones.
Code Blue, based in Holland, Mich., sold its "Circle of Safety," system to Butler University in Indianapolis, where about 300 of the school's 4,500 students have "panic button" pendants linked wirelessly to the school's blue light system.
Bosch Security sells a key fob-style transmitter that's been in use at Nazareth College in Rochester, N.Y., for more than a decade.
"Everybody knows security is a beep away," said Lee Struble, campus safety director at Nazareth, which also uses the devices to track expensive equipment. "There is a general sense of increased safety, similar to a neighborhood watch program."
Another option is to piggyback security devices to a school's already-existing Wi-Fi wireless "hot spot" network, said Graham Clark, president of National Scientific in Scottsdale, Ariz. The company, which specializes in child-safety, is testing hardware at ECU.
"The whole concept of tracking people is very much in its infancy," Clark said.
One idea that DuVall has already discarded is using cellular signals to send alerts and track users. The cellular technology is simply not reliable enough inside buildings, he said.
While the systems have made headway at a handful of schools, Carter said they're a hard sell at some schools where administrators fear they would send a stigmatizing message: This place is dangerous.
Bosch's Scott said his company developed its alert device with the college market in mind but has had to branch out and sell to other institutions, such as long-term care facilities.
The systems aren't cheap.
Jeff Scott, who works in application sales for Bosch, estimated that Nazareth's system, used by 1,800 people in 20 buildings across 100 acres, cost about $500,000 initially. Struble says the school spends $25,000 to $30,000 annually for maintenance and for replacement fobs; there is no cost to the students, faculty and staff.
Butler was able to afford its system because Circle of Safety is new on the market and Code Blue chose the school as a test site. One solution is to sell individual subscriptions to students who want extra security. Interested Butler students pay $75 for Circle of Safety pendants and a $50 annual activation fee.
Although he once believed cost was an obstacle, DuVall now believes that small-scale, low-cost pilot projects can be conducted. He agrees with Carter that perception is an obstacle to getting systems off the ground.
"Does implementing a project mean that the universities are unsafe?" he said.
His answer is that schools should view the systems not only as safety devices, but as a way for students and staff to alert authorities to other problems, such as medical emergencies, he said.
To that end, his center is seeking funding for two pilot projects. One would equip disabled students with personal alert devices, while the other would provide devices for staff in an ECU building located off-campus, in downtown Greenville.
"I feel that getting started is the hard part," he said.
