City, Atlanta University Center partner for student safety

A partnership of Atlanta University Center institutions and the city of Atlanta will provide security lights and license plate readers on the various campuses and surrounding area. CONTRIBUTED

A partnership of Atlanta University Center institutions and the city of Atlanta will provide security lights and license plate readers on the various campuses and surrounding area. CONTRIBUTED

The Atlanta University Center Consortium Council of Presidents and Mayor Kasim Reed announced the completion of a collaborative surveillance program that strategically places video cameras and license plate readers around the campus community to create a safer environment.

Working through the University Community Development Corp., a community development arm of the AUC, Presidents John Wilson, Ronald Johnson, Valerie Montgomery Rice, and Mary Schmidt Campbell have forged a partnership with the Atlanta Police Foundation and the Atlanta Police Department to install 35 cameras and five license plate readers around the AUC community. The cameras are monitored by AUC police at their respective schools and APD’s video integration center.

The VIC’s state-of-the-art system provides a cohesive unit of 24/7 video feeds from the cameras to serve as an additional layer of security to increase the scope and reach of existing campus police departments.

Each institution – Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine,

Spelman College – paying equal amounts, and the mayor’s office contributing the remaining

balance, funded the $700,000 project. The effort highlights the priority the AUCC institutions and

the city have to combat crime in the community.