Campus Saint-Jean veut renforcer sa securité: Trending security concerns worry students, faculty and staff at University of Alberta’s francophone campus

Every day, students at Campus Saint-Jean come to their student lounge to study on couches, grab lunch from Univers Café and shoot some pool if they have spare time. That space became inaccessible on weekends, after thieves attempted breaking into the lounge’s ATM on a Saturday night in November. They cracked the plastic casing of the ATM and used special tools to pierce the safe’s hinges. With one hinge left to crack, the thieves were interrupted, presumably by the sound of an approaching vehicle or potential witness. No money was stolen, but from then on, Le Salon began to be locked on weekends.

Security breaches at CSJ have grown more frequent and more expensive since 2013, CSJ Associate Dean Denis Fortin said. Infringements began with small thefts of food and change from the tips jar in the cafeteria and have since escalated. In the spring of 2015, an attempt of theft was made on a vending machine, which was damaged but cash was never stolen. Later in the fall, the theft of the ATM above was attempted.

“We cannot pinpoint a reason for this very specific change,” he said. “Actually, we used to be a very quiet campus. And it’s still quiet.”

Programming cuts to Youth Empowerment & Support Services, Bonnie Doon’s youth shelter, may have contributed to the rise in security concerns at CSJ. At times, the shelter doesn’t fundraise enough on a month-to-month basis and must close some beds they offer to the homeless youth as a result. Those homeless youth affected who trying to find shelter in the area may be using public spaces, such as CSJ, to sleep. This year, students with no university affiliation have been found sleeping in bathrooms, couch areas and even on the roof, where there’s a warm vent that people will sleep beside in the summer, Fortin said.

Talks between University of Alberta Protective Services (UAPS) and the office of Facilities and Operations are working to bring security changes to the campus of 750. But concrete remain unclear, Colin Champagne, Association des Universitaires de la Faculté Saint-Jean (AUFSJ) president, said. AUFSJ is the French campus’ faculty association, which represents students at varying levels of university governance and organizes activities.

“We usually get answers quickly, but we never get a timeline,” Champagne said. “We’ve had talks and good communication, but nothing ever gets done.”

The long-term solution to prevent unaffiliated student entry is the implementation of a ONEcard-reading system to CJS’s entrance points. The university has agreed to install the system, but CSJ is currently waiting on a date and cost estimate, Fortin said.

“This is an unfortunate situation, but everybody has been really cooperative,” Fortin said. “When we raised the issue, everybody said that ‘yes, this should be addressed.’”

CSJ is also in talks with the university to determine a security restructure. The university is conducting an investment investigation into how much permanent security staff at CSJ would cost, which may be in the range of $50,000 to $200,000 a per year. Currently, a security guard checks the locks on CSJ buildings every evening and UAPS have started visiting CSJ more frequently, despite being short-staffed even on North Campus, Fortin said.

There are currently no permanent UAPS guards at CSJ. Officers stationed at North Campus respond to calls at CSJ, but responses have been slow, Champagne said. At times, UAPS would take hours to respond to a call, while other times they wouldn’t respond at all, he added.

Ideally, next year’s CSJ will have functioning surveillance cameras, card-readers and a security guard to cover evenings and low-traffic times, Fortin said.

“It’s not perfect yet,” Fortin said. “And we are working with the senior administration of the university so we can increase the measures permanently.”

This year, Résidence Saint-Jean (RSJ), CSJ’s residence of 100 students, also saw new threats of theft from its common areas, which house kitchens and televisions. September started off with minor thefts of dishes, food and alcohol from kitchens. More expensive items, such as such as laptops and jackets were reported stolen from RSJ common rooms and dorms in October. In mid-November, a major break-in occurred just after 2 a.m. one morning, where thieves pried open a common room on the first floor and stole a resident’s anti-stress medication and two 52” TVs valued at $750 each, which had been locked down with wiring. The thieves left behind a wrench and a few fingerprints, which Edmonton Police Services recovered, but no one was found, Association of the Residents of the Faculty Saint-Jean president Armand Birk said.

The university responded by installing bars on RSJ’s first floor windows and partnering with UAPS for a stronger security presence on campus. In the Winter 2015 term, RSJ security concerns have since died down. Students are content that the bars were installed, and feel more safe now that the bars are up, Birk said.

“(Residents) were just pretty upset (the break-in) happened in the first place,” Birk said.

Concerns for security in the Bonnie Doon area have brought up question of parking at CSJ as well. There are 22 parking spots on campus, and about 600 commuting students, some of which park in Bonnie Doon’s residential streets. Four years ago, the university explored the possibility of building a parking lot in the green space along 86th Ave., but in consultation with local residents, the project was halted, and the residential community agreed to allow parking on the streets.

No students have reported any problems while walking to their vehicle after class, but residents in the Bonnie Doon area have, Fortin said. Now with condo units being constructed along 91st St., there has been reduced residential space for parking and may force students to park further away from campus. The university is currently revisiting former plans to asses the feasibility of a parking lot along 86th Ave. Students who park away from campus can requestthe SU’s Safewalk service, but that can be inconvenient since volunteers come from North Campus, he added.

Tenants don’t leave their belongings in RSJ’s common rooms anymore and students at CSJ are more vigilant, as nobody leaves their laptops unattended anymore. Everyone still feels safe, “as they should,” but the idea behind addressing security is to prevent serious incidents from happening in the future, Champagne said.

“I think it’s important we address (security) right now, before something happens,” Champagne said. “We’ve had break-ins and no one got hurt, but it is worrisome.”

“If something does happen, we’re going to look back and say that we knew there was something wrong.”