2008 Woodie Awards
Is security keeping you safe?
Brent Vanderloop
Issue date: 10/25/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
When most Kirkwood students hear about apartment security guards they think about getting in trouble, not about being kept safe. However, according to security guard Ben Engel, his purpose is to create a safe living environment for students who are living on their own for the first time.
I disagree that is the top priority of most security guards.
I feel that most of the security guards working at the apartments around Kirkwood are more interested in getting students in trouble than protecting them. At my apartment complex the security guards usually arrive around 8 p.m. and leave sometime around 2 - 3 a.m. If they were truly interested in protecting Kirkwood students they would be there earlier in the day.
Crime statistics from the FBI have shown that most thefts and break-ins occur during the daytime hours.
I have also noticed that most salespeople and can collectors come during the day. So if a can collector comes to your door at 2 p.m. asking for cans and refuses to leave, who is there to protect you? Not the security guards.
Security guards at each apartment complex are constantly changing. I believe each apartment complex should have the same three or four security guards for the entire year. This would allow the security guards to get to know the students who live in the apartment complex. This would make it easier for them to distinguish between who should be there and who shouldn't be there. Instead, it seems like there is a different security guard every night, which doesn't make me feel very comfortable.
Some students argue that knowing there is a security guard outside their apartment complex every night is comforting. Some students also argue that if the apartment complexes didn't have security guards at night they would be out of control.
Those two arguments may be true but until something is changed I will continue to believe that the security guards that patrol apartment complexes surrounding Kirkwood are more interested in writing tickets than protecting students.
I disagree that is the top priority of most security guards.
I feel that most of the security guards working at the apartments around Kirkwood are more interested in getting students in trouble than protecting them. At my apartment complex the security guards usually arrive around 8 p.m. and leave sometime around 2 - 3 a.m. If they were truly interested in protecting Kirkwood students they would be there earlier in the day.
Crime statistics from the FBI have shown that most thefts and break-ins occur during the daytime hours.
I have also noticed that most salespeople and can collectors come during the day. So if a can collector comes to your door at 2 p.m. asking for cans and refuses to leave, who is there to protect you? Not the security guards.
Security guards at each apartment complex are constantly changing. I believe each apartment complex should have the same three or four security guards for the entire year. This would allow the security guards to get to know the students who live in the apartment complex. This would make it easier for them to distinguish between who should be there and who shouldn't be there. Instead, it seems like there is a different security guard every night, which doesn't make me feel very comfortable.
Some students argue that knowing there is a security guard outside their apartment complex every night is comforting. Some students also argue that if the apartment complexes didn't have security guards at night they would be out of control.
Those two arguments may be true but until something is changed I will continue to believe that the security guards that patrol apartment complexes surrounding Kirkwood are more interested in writing tickets than protecting students.
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