It was a nice sunny day, the birds were singing, the squirrels were chirping and the students at the local engineering CnD were happily buying some food. My friend had just paid for his purchases and was about to pick up his bag from the many that were lying innocently on the ground. Little did he know he had been robbed in broad daylight. Although he managed to find his empty backpack in E2, the same could not be said for his newly bought laptop.
It’s because of cases like this that the school should seriously consider setting up security cameras outside of CnD. There are many who leave their bags unattended when they go for a quick meal. Thieves can easily make a living by just ransacking all the bags out there. The leave-your-backpack-outside-before-you-enter rule is also enforced at the UW Bookstore. However, there is a security guard at the doorway who monitors them. Unfortunately for the engineers, we don’t get this kind of luxury; our belongings are left outside to fend for themselves.
The following are my arguments as to why the school should install security cameras.
#1: In the event someone gets his or her bag robbed, it’d be much easier to determine when it happened and who committed the crime. Currently, there’s not a single line of defense: no security guards and no cameras. We just leave our belongings outside and rely on our trust for society. Having cameras installed would make everyone feel more at ease. As well, if the thieves are caught and brought to trial, there would be video evidence of them committing the crime.
#2: The CnD is located right at the front entrance of CPH, which is deemed as the main entrance to the engineering faculty. Shouldn’t we have at least some sort of safeguarding mechanism for our primary entrance? Certain schools have even installed metal detectors. Now I’m not implying that we need to go all out on the security, but shouldn’t we at least have security cameras? What if some trigger-happy maniac walked through our doors and did some damage and we couldn’t even provide any type of video footage?
I understand that certain people might be opposed to such an idea; we’d be getting “big-brothered”. But at what cost? Is the price of foregoing limited video surveillance and getting our bags robbed by intruders worth it? Is it justified that any malevolent intruder can walk through our front doors without ever worrying about being recorded?
Bottom line is, the school should step up and right this wrong. Show us you care UW. Take some initiative.
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