They are perched above, and if you haven’t craned your neck recently to catch a glimpse, you may not have noticed them. But they have noticed you.

The University of Kansas has almost finished installing security cameras in phase one of its project to make campus safer, said Chief Ralph Oliver of the KU Public Safety Office.

“We’re about 90 percent finished,” Oliver said.

University officials agreed that the installation of the cameras will serve a dual purpose: to make campus safer and to eventually improve parking efficiency

A new security camera surveys the grounds around Daisy Hill. Cameras have been installed on the hill, at Jayhawker Towers, and the Lied Center during the first phase of a two-phase project to increase security around campus.

But some students doubt their effectiveness on a campus the size of the University.

“There are so many people on campus, it would be hard to catch a person,” said Veronica Jacobs, Kansas City, Kansas sophomore and Jayhawker Towers resident. “But it’s a good step.”

Networking and Telecommunications Systems began equipping Daisy Hill, Jayhawker Towers, GSP-Corbin Hall and the Lied Center with cameras in the beginning of July, in what is called phase one of the two-phase project. Cameras already located at Allen Fieldhouse and Memorial Stadium were upgraded, Oliver said.

Cameras outside the Kansas Union, Watson Library and the Student Recreation Fitness Center would be installed in phase two of the project, Oliver said.

Phase two cameras would be installed as funding becomes available, said Rhonda Birdsong, administrator at the KU Public Safety Office.

The University has provided $280,000 for the project, and the Department of Homeland Security has provided $150,000, said Captain Schuyler Bailey of the KU Public Safety office.

Sparing crime

The cameras would help deter and prosecute violent crimes at the University, Oliver said. Three violent attacks since October 2003 played a major role in the decision to install them, Oliver said

“This was the best way to enhance security instead of putting more manpower on the street,” Oliver said.

The cameras aren’t meant solely to prevent crimes in progress, though students will monitor the cameras at random times, Oliver said.

Chancellor Robert Hemenway requested that students be used, Birdsong said. The monitoring would be a paid position, she said.

“It offers another opportunity for students to be involved,” she said.

For students worried about fellow students peering into their private lives, the computers used for monitoring have a function in the software that can “gray” windowpanes, making them opaque, Oliver said.

Some students still dislike the idea of being constantly observed.

“I think it’s great they’re trying to make the parking lot safer, but a feeling of paranoia might result,” Shad Morton, Garden Plain freshman and Oliver resident, said.

The cameras are “pan, tilt, zoom” and are capable of close-up shots, though Birdsong would not offer any information concerning resolution, she said.

Officials hoped that the cameras would discourage people from committing property crime, as well, Oliver said. Most of the cameras cover parking lots, where automobile thieves thrive, but Oliver would not indicate the number and locations of the cameras.

“That’s too much information for the bad guys,” he said.

Students shouldn’t become complacent. The cameras add a single level of security and should not be seen as a sweeping measure of safety, Oliver said.

Signs would be placed in general areas informing people that they are located in an area under security, Birdsong said.

Open spaces

While the cameras may enhance security on campus, they also may increase efficiency in campus parking lots.

Donna Hultine, director of the Parking Department, said she would use the cameras to determine whether lots were full.

“When somebody calls me on a cell phone saying ‘I can’t find a space’ I’ll say ‘go to this lot,’” she said.

If the department decides to follow the recommendations of the study conducted by the Philadelphia-based consulting firm, Chance Management Advisors — to restrict cars to specific lots instead of the “hunter’s license” method used currently — then the cameras would be less useful, Hultine said.

Though the cameras can capture close-up shots of objects, Hultine said the department would not use the software to enforce parking regulations, she said. Parking attendants would still perform regular duties.

Parking officials didn’t have access to the software yet because the installation isn’t complete, Hultine said.

—Edited by Erick R. Schmidt