Thousands of students and parents have signed a petition demanding that the University of Georgia install emergency blue lights on campus following the murder of Laken Riley.
The 22-year-old Augusta University nursing school student was found dead Thursday, Feb. 22, in a wooded area near Lake Herrick at the college’s intramural fields. A suspect has been arrested for her murder.
The petition organizer, identifying herself as a female student at the University of Georgia, posted the petition to Change.org. She said she is “deeply heartbroken and alarmed” by the murder, adding that Lake Herrick, which is owned by UGA, is a place where “many women, including myself, used to feel safe.”
“The lack of emergency blue lights has been an ongoing issue that can no longer be ignored. These lights can instantly contact the police and make them aware of a dangerous situation. They can also deter crimes,” the petition states.
In 1988, UGA became one of the first campuses in the nation to install emergency call boxes. As many as 28 call boxes were once spread across campus, according to campus police.
Changing technology and the proliferation of cell phones caused the university to change course, according to the UGA Police Department’s website.
“In 2004, the University learned that the phone system infrastructure could no longer support analog technology used in the call boxes and that the call box system would cease to function without a costly digital upgrade.”
“The University considered purchasing a new digital call box system at an estimated cost of several hundred thousand dollars. Before making that financial commitment, we researched call data on the analog system call boxes. Over an eight-year span, UGA Police received only seven calls from call boxes, none of which were of an emergency nature,” the website states.
The university did away with the call boxes and developed the UGASafe app. In addition, the school says it has invested $3 million in outdoor lighting and security cameras since 2018.
While acknowledging the benefits of the UGASafe app, the petitioner says more still needs to be done to keep students safe.
“We plead for additional safety measures. Students may be unfamiliar with the application, and a smartphone may offload the app after prolonged periods of no use. Blue lights would provide a guaranteed form of communication in times of danger.”
The petition was launched on Feb. 22 and has collected over 19,000 signatures so far.
