NIU needs to take actions to protect students by installing easily visible surveillance cameras around parking lots to deter and document criminal activity.

Recently, NIU has been struggling with the thefts of vehicle catalytic converters to the point that an NIU Police Department community awareness bulletin was issued Jan. 31 warning students of this.

From Jan. 22 to Jan. 26, seven various vehicle-related crimes were committed in NIU parking lots, including burglary from a motor vehicle, theft of motor vehicle parts, criminal defacement of property and leaving the scene of an accident with property damage, according to NIU Police Department blotter.

Camera surveillance has been instrumental in many cities’ plans to combat crime, one of the biggest examples being Chicago with the implementation of its Police Observation Devices program. Since 2003, Chicago has installed hundreds of remote cameras to monitor areas that suffer from high levels of criminal activity, according to the Chicago Police Department’s website. One of these areas, Humboldt Park, experienced a major decline in crime after the observation devices were installed.

“The crime rate dropped 20 percent the next month and stayed low on average. To weed out other factors that affect crime trends, we compared Humboldt Park with a similar neighborhood matched on historical crime rates, demographics, and land use and determined that the cameras alone were likely responsible for a nearly 12 percent drop in the crime rate,” according to a Sept. 2011 study by the Urban Institute, a non-profit research organization. This decline in criminal activity shows that cameras aren’t only effective for documenting crimes but also preventing them as well.

“Once you think you’re being watched, you’re less likely to do something you’re not supposed to,” said junior psychology major Heather Moore.

This is especially effective for combating hit-and-run scenarios in parking lots. By installing a camera, one who is guilty of hit-and-run can now be identified by using video footage and held accountable for the damage they caused to others’ property.

“Awareness of a surveillance system by a criminal perpetrator makes a would be hit-and-run criminal less likely to flee for fear of pursuit by law enforcement,” said junior pre-nursing major Jacob Bsarski.

With NIU being a second home for thousands of students, the administration has an obligation to take measures to ensure campus safety. Installing parking lot cameras is one of the ways NIU can accomplish this.