Students might not know that the 100 tall, blue columns around campus house emergency phones. When the red button on the column is pressed, the phone connects directly to UNM Police Department.
There are more than 200 emergency phones not in columns on North, Main and South campus.
Vanessa Baca, communication specialist for Information Technologies, said most calls received are either mistakes or from students feeling uncomfortable at night.
“The majority of the calls from all of the phones on main campus are people calling for escorts, like people calling for escorts to their cars after dark from classrooms, or students who need somebody to walk with them to and from the dorms,” she said. “They definitely give students a feeling of security.”
IT is currently working on a map of all emergency phones on campus, which should be available in February, Baca said. The map, which will be posted on the IT Web site, will help students locate hard-to-find phones, including those on the sides of buildings, in dorms and in elevators, she said.
Student Matthew Segura said he has only thought about using the emergency phone one time when he was concerned for the safety of others.
“There were some transients here bothering some other people and I thought, ‘If they get a little bit rowdy, I might just go and press the thing and have somebody else come and deal with them,’” Segura said.
Vanessa said four to eight requests for emergency phone repairs are placed each month campus-wide.
UNM Security checks all phones once per month to make sure they’re working, said Rosemary Melendrez, security supervisor.
The Daily Lobo walked with Melendrez around main campus and tested six different emergency phones. All phones connected to dispatch within seven to 10 seconds. One phone north of Humanities didn’t have a working flashing light on the top of the column. Melendrez said security submits work orders for any part of the phones that have problems.
Melendrez said the flashing light helps officers locate the person in distress.
Charles Baca, police dispatcher, said the emergency phones usually always work.
“Most of them work that I know of,” he said. “If we do get a call from one and it’s not working, and we can’t hear the person on the other side, we automatically send an officer to go look and find out if there is somebody near that phone. It doesn’t happen very often.”
One blue emergency phone on the north side of Mitchell Hall was removed during the Hall’s renovations and still hasn’t been replaced, Baca said.
“The phone will be replaced — it’s just the building is still undergoing the final stages of renovations,” she said.
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The phone should be replaced within the next few months, she said. It is up to UNM Capital Projects to re-install the phone, she said, because they are responsible for Mitchell’s construction. There is a working phone located northeast of Mitchell.
