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To: Purdue PoligqDepartment

From: Georsina

Date: luly 25,2008

Re: C a mp u sS e cur ityfor StudentlstatflFaculty : fi' i r ; . : ,i

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There is one topic on student, staff and faculty safety that resounds throughout
not only the Purdue Campus, but many locations around the world. It has many
different views from needing more, to using none at all but each view believes
that theirs is the best solution in making any campus a safer place for all. This
topic has even been included in a report submitted to the U.S. Congress. The
topic is lighting. Lighting used outside buildings, next to walk ways, parking
lots, and other areas needing additional visibility.

Time has been the worst offender to improvements to the lighting problems that
exists, as evident by the report submitted to the U.S. Congress

In 1979, thepredecessorogencyof NIJ, the National Institute of Law

Enforcementand Criminal Justice, reported on a review of 60lighting
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evaluations. Ii

In the 1980s,a borough in Londan upgradedall of its street lighting. Atkins,

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Husain and Storey (1991) comparedreported crimes the year before the lL
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relighting to the yearfollowingfor 39 sectionsof the borough.

In 1994 Painter undertookthree separateevaluations,with similar designs. She

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examinedlighting improvementson two separatestreet segmentsand afootpath,
all located in crime prone areas within London |-:

Not much has changedsince Tien and his colleagues(1979) gave their critical
assessmentof the impact of lighting on crime.
 The lack of appropriate lighting has not changed even here on our owrr Purdue
Campus as evider#'fiy the last Student government platform that was held in
April2008. As quoted by Barnard a Purdue Student Government official, "At
the top of our priority list would be projects that we can have immediate effect l '$t
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on over the summer - thesewould be things concerning campus bus routes, tY.r,Yi
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campus safety, sidewalk and lighting issues". Lighting was not an inside agenda |^) '" t . , r '
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of "campus safety" but a separateissue.
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StuderyQarenot the only people on the Purdue campu:,with concernsabout ', ..11;'
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lighti$, fhculty and staff employed by Purdue also hd$concerrrsabout the 11r'1
't. :'' i

lighting-on campus
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From ]uly 18,2008till luty 24,2008a survey was conducted poolinga small I
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group of Faculty, Staff,Undergrads, and Graduate Student. The 10 questions Y? ' t:

1_i "'
, , r' '
f
+ 1,,'"consistedof: l. Yourtitleon compusis?;2.Yourgender?; 3. Are youeveron compus ,
r t'f"*
'. grounds ot night?;4. Doyoufeelsofeon compusgroundsot night?;5. Do youthinkthe I j .r
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' lightingon thecompusgroundsis odequote?; 6. ls thelockof lightlngon compusgrounds \
,1 '
: l' ' o foctorin notfeelingsofeot night?;7. Wouldyougiveup seeingslorsot nightfor better
'
lighting?;8. Wouldyouconsider corryingo {loshlight{orsofetywhilewolkingon compus
ot night?;9. Doyou believethotyourcollege/University is theonlycompus withlighting
,|0.
problems on thecompusgroundsot night?; Doyoubelievethotpoorcompusground
lightingis o foclorin compuscrime?.

While 47% of the Femalesanswered no to Q4,63% answered no toQ5,47o/"

answered yes to Q6, and 84Y"artsweredYes to Q10. So even though almost 50%
of the women surveyed don't feel safeon the campus grounds at night and that
the lack of lighting on campus grounds if a factor, an alarming percentile feel
that the campus grounds lighting is inadequate anf a factor in campus crimes.
/ ., , .:
Now when viewing the men on the sameibtats;07" answered no to Q4, and 42"/"
answeredno to Q5,42% answered yes to Q6, and 85% answered Yes to Q10. So
even though men claim to feel safeon the campus grounds at nighf there still is
an almost 50% that fee the lighting on campus grounds is inadequate and a factor
in feeling un-safe on campus grounds, while again an alarming percentile feel
that poor campus ground lighting is a factor in campus crimes.

Now let's review the samestatswith the titles of the pool. (Sinceonly oneFaculty
responded,this title will be removedfrom this portion of the documenf but left in Table
1 Stats)For Q4 33"/"Grad, M"/" Staff, and29o/"Undergrads answered no. On Q5
55% Grads,S\Y" Stafl ar.:rd7lo/o
Undergrads, answered no. On Q6 55% Grad,
33%o Staff, arrd 57"/"Undergrads answered yes. And last, on Q10 88% Grad,88o/o
Staff.,and7l"/o Undergrads, answered yes. So even though under s0% of each
title feels safe on campus at nighg a high percentile of the titles feel that the
lighting on the campus grounds is iii;adequate and a factor in feeing un-safe.
Again an even higher percentile feels that poor campus ground lighting is a
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factor in campuscrimes' ,
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So what do we do to improve thesestatistics? Put in more lighting? The :' ,.,,i'1'

,.
4nternanonal Dark-sky Association.(ID Affiekeves that this would be a
dejerrent to campus #iftffi?"ot the quantity of lights but the placement
flo*a "uf"ty,
ofithat createssafety. Thuy are calling for whafs called a"DarkSky" policy; this
is wtrere there is just enough light to visibly seeyour surroundings. They believe ql,.y1',.,i,,,'i
that a "Dark Sky" poliry is the €lnswer,as quoted in their #23Information Sheet, ,j !r";'

Thereis goodlighting and thereis badlighting. Badlighting is

counter-productiaeto addressingtheneedsnnd actuallydiminishes
safetyand security. It is not costffictiae either. Badlighting haslots
of glare,andglarealanys compromises safetyand security,whilegood
lighting producesno glare,and thelight distributionis weII-
controlled,minimizing darkareasand allowingfor good"transient
adaptation"betu)een
lit areasand thedarksurroundings.

And the IDA continues to emphasizetheir "Dark Sky" within the #54
Information Sheet,

Canoentionalwisdomsuggeststhat light reducescrime. That'swhy

outdoorlights areoftencalled" Securitylights' . Schooldistrictsacross
the U.S.areturning conoentionalwisdomon its headbyturning off
lights on schoolgrounds. Theresultshaoebeenimpressiae.Annual
enerry saaingscanaddup to hundredsof dollarsper school.
Significantdecreases
in aandalismhaaebeendocumented
sincethe
"Dark Campus"policieshauegoneinto ffict.

So is this the answer to our problems here at Purdue University and other
campuses?Do we changeand eliminate our already existing lighting on
campus?

Lefs review the survey results. In order to get the point across,I phrased
question 7 tnmy own view point of what a "Dark Sky" would entail, what
 removing lights would do to the sky and I cameup with the visibility of the
stars. So I asked;would you give up seeingstars at night for better lighting?
And a resounding percentile said yes,79"/"of the females,42o/oof the males,677o
of the staff, and 43%of the undergrads. This made it an
of the grads, 89o/o
averageof 69%of all surveyed giving up seeingthe stars at night for a safer
campus.

So what do we do? Adding lighting, or removing and improving lighting for a

"Dark Sky" would take years whichever way was decided. But we need
something now. Do we wait for a thousand more rapet thefts or battery and
assaults? So what solution is there?

FLASH LIGHTS! Yes,small flash lights that fit on a keychain. They provide a
surprising amount of light for a dark area. And even though my survey points
out that A%of the men would carry one, 58% of the women would, and56"/oof
the grads and 55% of the staff.
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The cost of providing a small flash light would be 82 centsper person, which ' '''i, l1\.t

would cost $245,000(FaIl2007 Purdue FastFactsthat included undergrads and t

grads, and staff f3'1,'186+6,994+3,665-41,845J
and consider the percentile of those
willing to use a flashlightl69%1, which makes the total 28,873),making the final
costabout $24,000.

Small black key lights can be found at" A Bettei ldea!"

ThePurdue"P" con qlsobe odded,fhe belowis iusion
(iltp*':_l,o_gl.,ighgltende.*"{gryd.
un-officiol
P exomple.

Qpnftyr 50m 10@ 25000 s00e0

YourSpecialPrice: $0.90 $0.88 $0.84 $0.82
 For the cost of one undergrad student attending the Purdue University for one
year, undergrad, gtad, and staff could have one small item in their possession
that would provide a large amount of security in the form of additional lighting
as needed.

So now we decide. Do we grve up fixing the problem of unsafe walkways on the

Purdue Campus or do something about it as easily as offering flashlights to the
incoming fr€shman at the upcoming BoilerRush. For that feeling of safety that 1 )
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 Table1

lf . Your title on campusis? J2.vour gender?

Faculty _1 Female 19
Grad I Male 7
26
Underorad 7
26

I I
13.Are you everon campusgroundsat night? Oo you feel safe on campusgroundsat night?
I l+.
tYeslNoiN/A Yes

, Y e s iNo lN/ A
'aculty 1
;;;
i5l G ra d , 5 3 1
I
i'5i
5-r Staff i 3 115

7. \lVouldyou give up seeing starc at night for you considercarryinga flash light for
| 8. Would
befterlighting? I safetywhile walkingon campusat night?
Yes No N/A
4
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:11

Female
 Table1

lg. Oo you bclievetfrat your cotlege/Universityis

Ithe only campus wittr lighting problens on the
l*rp* grounds at night?
Yes No N/A Y e s lt r t o lr u n
F 1 1
Grad I I I
Staff 1 8 I
Undergrad 1 5 1 7
2 22 2 26
Citations:

Sherman,L.W.; Gotdredsoo D.; MacKenzie D.; Eck,I.; Reuter, P.; Bushway, S.

(no date provided). Report to the U.S. Congress:PREVENTING CRIME:
WHAT WORKS, WHAT DOESN'T, WHAT'S PROMISING. Retrieved from
htq>:/Lwww.ncjrs.govlworksl

Unknown author (0U2000).Campus Lighting and Other Such Applications,

Information Sheet #23Retrieved from
http://www.darksky.org/mc/pa i tePageld:630i4
ge.do?s

Unknown author (0U2000).Dark Campus Programs ReduceVandalism and Save

Money. Information Sheet # 54, Retrieved from
http://www. d arksky.org/mc/page.do?sitePageld:63014

Purdue University (retrieved on7l24l08) Fast FactsRetreived from

http ://www.purdue.edu/datadige stlp agesI fastfacts/fast2.htrn