Discussions and preparations continue regarding the installation of security cameras on campus as university officials, campus police and the student government work to secure funding and bids for the finish the job.

After a series of incidents in the parking deck and on campus – including an alleged rape, an armed robbery and an incident of indecent exposure – took place in 2012, university officials began plans to install security cameras in the UNA parking deck.

The process of receiving bids from different companies and allocating funds is ongoing, said Vice President of Student Affairs David Shields.

“We are still working on deciding how to best go about this,” Shields said. “The challenge is the number of floors in the parking deck and determining the number of cameras that are needed.”

Shields pointed out that as the process of installing security cameras around campus continues, there are some things that have already been implemented for campus safety.

“We now have much brighter lights on all floors of the parking deck,” Shields said. “They are much brighter than the ones that were once in there. We have continuing patrols not only in the parking deck but also all around campus.”

The process is expensive and takes time, said University Chief of Police Bob Pastula.

“You can’t really just go out and spend that kind of money and just buy a security camera system,” Pastula said.

As reported in a previous The Flor-Ala story, Sharp Communications, a company based in Huntsville, Ala., was one of the companies bidding to install the cameras for UNA. In the previous news story, David Anyan of Sharp Communications said the company quoted UNA for only two buildings on campus and estimated the cost for those buildings would be around $45,000.

“We work with the Purchasing Department and other university departments to receive the bids from different companies and then decide what to do from there,” Pastula said.

A camera system in the residence halls is being installed and should be up soon, Pastula said.

“This is a camera system that will be monitored by the university police in real time,” Pastula said.

UNA Student Government Association (SGA) President Laura Giles said they have been waiting on the university to finish receiving the bids.

“We know that the proper steps have to be taken in order to complete something like this so we are waiting for UNA to finish getting their bids in,” Giles said.

SGA is planning to have a meeting with Chief Pastula to discuss the ongoing issues, Giles said. In the meantime, she said they are continuing to work on promoting campus safety.

“We want to continue sharing ways that students can be safe on campus – especially preventive,” Giles said.  “We really want to be proactive when it comes to student safety on campus. I do think that the security cameras are a good idea and they will be a good addition on campus, but there are things students can do now to promote safety on campus.”