Dover moves away from blue light phones, SU considers adding more

In Dover five emergency blue light phones were removed from Thursday, meanwhile in Maryland Salisbury University may be considering adding more of them in response to recent crimes near campus.

Dover city officials said they voted to remove the blue light phones from some city parks which are closed to the public at night. They decision promoted by data that showed none of the phones have been used since they’ve been in service for the past ten years. Official also said that most people who call police now use their cellphones.

However just because Dover is getting rid of them, doesn’t mean they’re not effective as executive director for the life crisis center  Michele Hughes explained.

“One, not all people have cell phones and secondly sometimes its not easy to get at your cellphone in a time of crisis,” Hughes said.

Over at Salisbury University, president Dr. Janet Dudley-Eshbach said the blue light phones serve two purpose, one to give students a direct line to police if something should occur, but they also serve as a deterrent to potential criminals.

“I think they’re incredibly important, they’re important and we may need to install more of them they are there to kind of signal not just to our students but to potential trouble makers that you do something inappropriate our campus there will be a quick response,” said Dudley-Eshbach.

In addition to blue light phones Dudley Eshbach said having more lighting on campus and possibly adding to their 750 security cameras are also measures they’ve explored to making campus safer.