EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was published originally in the April issue of GCU Magazine, available in the purple bins around campus or digitally.
Photos by Ralph Freso
Students walking at night next fall from the center of Grand Canyon University to as far as Acacia Hall could choose to have a virtual escort right alongside them.
It’s just one of several features of the new GCU Public Safety Dispatch and Real-Time Operations Center near 27th and Georgia avenues, created with the help of the city of Phoenix Adaptive Reuse Program.
“That station will be useful in this zone,” said Saira Carrazco, who moved with her son, Luis, out of their home near the 27th and Missouri intersection a few years ago because of drug activity and prostitution.
The new substation – two buildings that once housed a transmission shop and a tavern – is the result of the combined efforts of the GCU and city of Phoenix police departments and the 27Collab community coalition.
“It’s going to be 24/7 surveillance there,” said GCU President Brian Mueller, thanks to modern equipment that will enhance campus and neighborhood security. “We want to take it to the next level, and our police headquarters are going to help us do that.”
In the fall, students will be able to download an app that will track them from the operations center, according to GCU Public Safety Director Robert Handy.
Officers and dispatchers will have access to more than 500 cameras on campus and surrounding areas that can monitor students as far as 1 ½ miles away.
The city has applied for a drone permit, too, to help police monitor the area. And officers will have access to an interview room, as well as lockers, bathrooms and a quiet room, along with cubicles to complete paperwork.
Law enforcement hopes the physical presence of the substation will help deter crime in a community that GCU and its neighbors hope to transform.
That change seems to be happening.
Crime has dropped by 34% in the last five years and violent crime by 20% in the last two years.
“The substation has definitely helped us to feel safer,” said Elizabeth Davidson, a parent who works at Alhambra Traditional School. “We know there’s a significant increase in (police) presence, as well as a closer proximity to us and the kids, and that’s been very helpful."
GCU News senior writer Mark Gonzales can be reached at [email protected]
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Related content:
GCU News: Efforts of GCU, community coalition making neighborhood safer for students
GCU press release: Neighborhood coalition making strides to improve safety along 27th Avenue
