Page 42 - College Planning & Management, June 2017

AN EYE IN THE SKY
Safety Steve Gahagans of the Univer- sity of Arkansas Police Department. “They could also potentially be used to take video or still images that violate student or employee privacy.”
With safety and privacy issues clearly at the forefront of campus
drone use, having a policy like the one at Arkansas can serve as a good student safeguard until more defini- tive laws and regulations on privacy are brought forth.
“Within the next few years, I ex- pect that a court case may come up
that will determine privacy guidelines once and for all,” predicts Speegle. Until then, it is up to colleges and uni- versities to decide where, when and how students and even campus police forces are able to deploy drones. “It is critical for institutions to plan ahead,” he advises, especially in terms of gen- eral student privacy, but also in think- ing about other sensitive areas on campus that could be compromised by unwelcome surveillance. There need to be policies brainstormed and instituted that are able to apply to
a broad swath of situations — rang- ing from recreational student use to emergency situations.
USING THE TECHNOLOGY FOR GOOD
While privacy is an issue, the ability to single out certain people or situa- tions in a large crowd is one of the most promising selling points drones offer to campus police forces. Sporting events and festivals on campus, while fun, can also allow dangerous situations to arise, given the right circumstances. “Drones are a great tool to monitor events from above, to search for troublemakers, if needed, and to observe general crowd and traffic flows,” confirms Speegle. “They could be a game changer for po- lice or security assigned to those types of events.”
Being able to watch potential situa- tions unfold in real time gives police or campus security forces time to react early, which can help de-escalate a situ- ation almost before it begins. Such an advantage would also be useful in over- all campus security, like singling out suspicious individuals — or in the worst of cases, finding an active shooter. “In extreme cases like those with an active shooter or large drug raid, there are limits; campuses should worry less about privacy and more about keep- ing everyone safe, which drones can certainly help with,” advises Speegle.
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42 COLLEGE PLANNING & MANAGEMENT / JUNE 2017
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