 "Photo: Laurén Abdel-Razzaq -- For The South End")
Students walking around Wayne State are never far from the glow of a blue light.
The Blue Light Emergency Phones, which distinguish on-campus phones providing a direct link to WSU police in the case of an emergency, are part of a set-up designed to allow users access to police, even if they are unable to speak to a dispatcher when placing the call.
Wayne State has three different types of Blue Light phones: there are 93 one-touch units with a red emergency button that, when pushed, calls directly to police dispatch. An additional 85 have a keypad that can be used to call any on-campus number as well as the one-touch feature.
There are also 128 Blue Light units located in elevators around campus.
It is the job of Broc Setty, Blue Light technician, to make sure all 306 phones are working properly. He calls each phone once every two weeks and, depending on the tones he hears, can tell if the phone needs maintenance.
“If it turns out that a phone is not working, I go out and test the light … If the phone still doesn’t work, I call AT&T to come out and repair the system,” Setty said. “If I need to replace a phone, I can send it to Ramtel [a security phone manufacturer], where they fix the phone and send it back.”
Blue Lights in elevators are not under the department’s jurisdiction, but Setty still checks them, doing what he calls a “public service.”
Every year, the university gets more Blue Light phones, said Setty, which are strategically placed around campus, most often near buildings where students, staff and faculty frequent.
When getting a new Blue Light, the cost varies depending on the work required for installation, but WSUPD only pays for the phone itself, which, according to Setty, typically costs about $500.
Blue Lights first appeared on campus in the late 1970s and were not like the ones in use today.
“The old phones looked more like a household phone where you had to dial in the emergency,” Setty said.
Ramtel changed its phones in the 1980s because the design did not protect against vandalism of the units’ wires and keypads. All of the original phones have been replaced with newer models.
Hello, anyone there?
The system only functions properly if someone is there to receive the call, so the success of the Blue Light system is intertwined with the capabilities of the police’s dispatch department.
Lt. Dave Scott calls the dispatchers the “unsung heroes of the station,” because they are the first to receive news of an emergency and their actions start the process of dealing with it.
When someone uses a Blue Light phone’s emergency button, they can speak with the dispatcher directly and inform them of the situation and location. However, if the person is unable to speak, the dispatcher is able to look up the location of the Blue Light in the Computer Aided Dispatch system to find out where to send officers.
Melanie Wardell, a senior dispatcher, said the entire process of finding the Blue Light’s location in the system takes about five seconds, and officers can usually be at the scene within 30 seconds of the call.
The system allows dispatchers to directly request EMS or fire services, whereas in the past, this was done through a separate phone call. Scott said dispatchers can now speak with nearly any Michigan police force, reducing the response time.
There are 10 dispatchers working for the WSUPD, according to Wardell, and all are required to undergo four to six months of training with an in-house program or through a national dispatch training program. She said there are always two dispatchers on duty at any time, and university holidays don’t make a difference.
“The police station is always open,” Wardell said. “Every day between Christmas and New Years, there will be two dispatchers on duty, except Christmas Day when there is one.”
1 comments