Several new security precautions will be taken at the University College of the Cayman Islands in the wake of two assaults which occurred on campus last week.
Security guard Blandino Alphonso checks the ID of a driver on the UCCI campus Friday. Photo: Brent Fuller |
The measures include additional security guards, closed circuit camera surveillance and a security barrier at the university’s entrance.
‘We have maintained a free-spirited and liberal environment that allows scholarship and fresh ideas to flow,’ said UCCI President Hassan Syed. ‘We must protect our values and way of life with solid security measures.’
Two assaults on UCCI students occurred within 26 hours of each other last week.
The first attack, which happened in a school bathroom, left an 18-year-old student hospitalised with serious head injuries. The second sent two students, aged 16 and 17, to the hospital after they were assaulted in the school cafeteria.
Three people have been arrested in connection with the incidents. None of them were current students at UCCI.
The Caymanian Compass reported last week that additional private security officers as well as Royal Cayman Islands Police patrols are now in place on campus. However, those are not the only extra security measures the school is taking.
According to Mr. Syed, closed circuit TV cameras are being installed around the campus and will be recording what they photograph. The school will post signs in areas where the cameras are being used.
A security barrier has been set up at the school’s main entrance. UCCI staff and students will be given decals that stick on the inside of their vehicle’s windows to allow passage through the barrier.
Visitors will have to register and state their business at the check point before being allowed to enter the campus.
The college already gives identification cards to faculty and students. However, the school will now require those badges to be worn at all times while the person is on campus.
‘We do apologize for this but it is in the best interest of all members of our learning community,’ Mr. Syed wrote in a letter dated 12 September which was sent to faculty and students.
On Friday morning, a security guard was stationed at a temporary road block at the campus’s main parking lot. Drivers entering the lot were stopped and asked to show a school ID. People walking in from outside the lot were also stopped and questioned.
A small security guard house further outside the entrance to the school was being constructed and was expected to be finished sometime next week. School personnel said National Security company guards would be placed there once the building was finished.
Mr. Syed’s 12 September letter mentioned the recent assaults of three students as the reason for the new security measures.
However, a press release issued by the school also intimated that swelling enrolment at the college was driving the security changes as well.
The most recent figures reported in the Compass (24 July) show student registrations at UCCI jumped from 860 to about 2,500 within the last 10 months.
‘As with any large institution maintaining security can be challenging,’ the press release stated.
At press time, all but two of the security measures outlined in Mr. Syed’s letter had been put into place. Details of installing campus security cameras and issuing car window decals to students and faculty still had to be worked out.
School officials could not put a figure on how much security improvements would cost.
‘The cost associated with making UCCI a safe environment is well worth it,’ said UCCI Business Development Manager Kathleen Jackman.
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