Surveillance Cameras in MTSU Parking (Essay Sample)

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MTSU Parking Lots’ Surveillance Cameras
Having a safer more secure campus environment is the strong desire every varsity administration in the United States thinks about from time to time. Keeping a close eye on every student’s, staff, and visitor’s property security is a critical concern in MTSU. To help guarantee safety and controlled transportation services from the outer parking, MTSU should integrate surveillance cameras in the parking lots. Embracing this move will enable the varsity to build a state-of-the-art surveillance system that will optimize the entire campus parking and transportation security. The surveillance cameras should have high resolution and better video quality so as to capture the exactly licensed car plates and unoccupied parking slots. The cameras will capture real-time case scenarios and necessitate for archives from playback. The students will benefit from instant parking surveillance security and all-time alerts. Thus, this paper will address the need of MTSU to integrate surveillance cameras in the parking lots.
Pros and Cons of the Service
Some of the advantages that MTSU will benefit from the integration of surveillance cameras in the parking lots are:-
* Easy detection and capture of individuals violating the parking regulations, property theft, and violation of transportation services.
* Easy establishment of unoccupied parking slots and faster transportation services.
* Improved parking security support.
* Enhancement of security personnel’s efforts by the necessitating instant view of multiple parking locations.
* Detection of unauthorized visitors and intruders in the parking lots.
* Optimized monitoring of movements and any activity on the campus and parking area after dark (at night hours).
* Reduction of vandalism and threats of violence by students in the parking area.
* Increasing the sense of protection and self-respect among the students, visitors, and the staff.
Even though the surveillance cameras will be beneficial to the entire MTSU fraternity, however, there are several drawbacks to this move:-
* Every person deserves privacy. Surveillance cameras will deprive the students, the staff, and visitors in the parking lots the right of privacy.
* Another problem will be misidentification of suspects.
* Surveillance cameras have minimal success s as their aim majors on preventative measures.
* Surveillance cameras are vulnerable to hacker discretion. By use of internet or hacker software, security cameras are prone to hacker havoc.
* Surveillance cameras installation will add an extra pay to students, staff, and visitors.
Therefore, the MTSU community has the responsibility of instituting and installing the surveillance cameras to the parking lots based on the advantages addressed above. Like any other initiative, it is hard to shy away from challenges, thus, based on benefits that the entire MTSU community this proposal should be highly considered.
Personal Interview
To establish the dire need to have these surveillance cameras installed in the parking lots, I conducted a personal Interview with Wayne Joab, a Business Administration student from MTSU. The interview was carried out in the University Administration block. All of the possibly relevant information was recorded.
Interviewer: Welcome Wayne. Do you believe surveillance cameras will reduce crime in the parking lot?
Wayne: Thank you. In my opinion I think the move will slightly counteract some crimes especially theft that has in the past posed a great challenge to our university. However basing on reports from CCTV studies, there is minimal correlation between the surveillance cameras and crime detection or prevention measures (Ann, 2003).
Interviewer: Do you believe surveillance cameras will have beneficial value to the entire MTSU community?
Wayne: Of course yes. Surveillance cameras will ease transportation services around the school. There will be few cases of car theft, vandalism around the parking areas, and well-monitored parking lots. For instance, we have been used to black ticket payment but will surveillance cameras installed I think the University will allow us for green tickets enjoyed by staff and visitors. There will be less mistrust to safety and theft cases.
Interviewer: Do you think the installation of surveillance cameras won’t affect the normal running of the school? Will they be properly regulated?
Wayne: In my opinion I think there will be a short interruption of the normal running of the school affairs as the entire MTSU community will try to acclimatize with the new move. The surveillance cameras will affect individual’s right to privacy, personal freedom, and anonymity. Thus, I believe there will be a thorough regulation to counter personal extremists. I think the school will be compelled to reform the current parking laws and enact principles that support protection of privacy under Human Rights Act, Data Protection Act, and the Regulation of Inventory Powers Act (Mary, 1999).
Interviewer: Do you think the installation of these surveillance cameras will be costly? Will the student’s fee be raised up? In short, will the project affect the student’s annual fee payment?
Wayne: Of course yes. The purchase and installation of surveillance cameras are costly. Maintenance cost too must be budgeted. I believe that the students’ fee will be affected since the school doesn’t have any other source of finance. I am sure that the finance department will increase our fee payment. However, if the school manages to secure a donor for the project, or government funding, we will be on the safe side. No one can predict what may happen.
Interviewer: What critical negative effects could be brought up by the installation of surveillance cameras in the parking lot? How can they be rectified in advance?
Wayne: The most critical negative effects that can be brought up by this project are privacy infringement, additional costs, and minimal success to ensure detection and prevention measures are guaranteed. Like any other IT managed platform, this system will be highly prone to hacker discretion, failure due to technical hitches, and additional budget due to maintenance costs. The student’s fee will be raised up, and I think the students will not welcome this hand with open hands. Thus, a solid plan, strategy, and policy are required for this project (Theresa, 2012).
Interviewer: How beneficial will the surveillance cameras assist the MTSU fraternity during off-duty office hours?
Wayne: The office hours for the Parking and Transportation department in MTSU is between 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. (Monday-Thursday) and from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Fridays, thus, with surveillance cameras there will be no offline working personnel. The IT management department will recruit personnel who will monitor the system 24 hours. This move will be an added advantage to the MTSU community as security will be guaranteed day and night in the parking areas. There will be no problem or limit for Transportation and Parking services at all times.
Interviewer: I have learned that the university has over 53,000 students; do you think the current parking lot is enough to accommodate such large number of people? Is this project viable at this time?
Wayne: Alright, not every student has a car. Again, not all students attend classes at the same time or season. Everything is planned by the administration, and I believe if we had a representative from the finance department, he/she could have addressed this issue in a better fashion (Penn, 1971). However, in my point of view, every institution runs on a set plan, strategy, and objectives, therefore, if they came up with this project it means it is well discussed and is viable. In a different explanation, if tension or tendency of violence is eased and the students don’t worry about that anymore then they will concentrate on their studies. I believe the project is a viable one as it will at least give an assurance of safety to the entire MTSU community as every event at the parking lot will be monitored.
Interviewer: Wayne I have liked your views over this school’s initiative. Lastly, what can you say as a summary of this project?
Wayne: I can conclude by saying that, this project is a crucial move to realizing a more unified MTSU community and I am convinced that the students will critically see its importance in providing a peaceful learning environment. We will not be worried about untimely tensions, crimes, and flames of violence. A more cohesive MTSU community will be guaranteed, and I highly support this project.
Interviewer: Thank you for coming and for your time.
Wayne: All the pleasure is mine.
From the interview, it is clear that this project is worthy been undertaken. The benefits outshine the drawbacks as every system is faced with challenges. Wayne represented the entire MTSU community, and it is clear that the project will not be received with rage. MTSU community is doing its level best to provide a safer learning environment.
Questionnaire
On first-hand research, I also conducted an informal questionnaire.
1 Does the installation of surveillance cameras in the parking lot concern you? (Tick one answer)
[A] Completely Agree [B] Partly Agree [C] Neither agree or disagree [D] Partly disagree [E] Completely disagree
2 Do you think the use of surveillance cameras in the parking lot will curb theft and other forms of crimes? (Tick one answer)
[A] Completely Agree [B] Partly Agree [C] Neither agree or disagree [D] Partly disagree [E] Completely disagree
3 Do you believe there will be no personal freedom or right of privacy when the surveillance camer...