Texas Tech University officials take precautions to make sure students feel safe by placing blue phones in various places on campus.
Amy Ivey, administrative lieutenant at the Texas Tech Police Department, explained what blue phones are and their uses around the Tech campus.
“Here at Texas Tech we have our own dispatch centers,” Ivey said. “So anytime you are on campus and you call 911 or you use the blue phones, it goes straight to our dispatchers who are trained and licensed by the state to take 911 calls, and you can tell them your emergency.”
Ivey said blue phones offer students safety as they are placed all around the university campus.
According to the TTPD website, there are 120 blue phones placed all around campus ranging from the administration building at 2625 Memorial Circle to West Village at 3405 Texas Tech Parkway.
Ivey said the blue phones are part of some of the crime prevention and safety programs undertaken by TTPD.
“If you are walking and you see somebody suspicious,” Ivey said, “and you feel like you are being followed and you don’t have enough time to get on your phone, or you don’t have your phone, you can actually push the blue phone button and a blue light will strobe. It will actually dial the 911 dispatch center.”
Once the button is pushed, Ivey recommends walking and pushing other blue phone buttons as they walk. This builds a path for the responding officer to follow.
Although TTPD uses blue phones as a secondary safety precaution, not all students know about the blue phone.
Melissa Thompson, graduate history major, said although she has been a student for more than four years, she did not know what the blue phones are used for.
“All I know is that they are just around campus,” Thompson said. “I honestly don’t know how they work.”
Thompson recounted how previous experiences have made her skeptical about the functionality of the blue phones.
“I used to work late over at the Marsha Sharp Center for Student-Athletes,” Thompson said, “and I used to walk alone to my car. A lot of the phones around the area where I would walk seemed to not work, so I wouldn’t even trust them now.”
Lea Maric, junior Tech Student, said she feels a lot safer knowing the blue phones are around but also feels like they are limited in function.
“I think they are the most effective if you’re in a situation where you are kinda being followed,” Maric said. “However, I feel it is very limited in what they can be used for.”
Maric also said the blue lights should be better publicized through information about the safety incentive shared by individual colleges.
“For something that is campus-wide like this,” Maric said, “I would just stress the importance within the colleges because that is where we spend most of our time.”
For Thompson, the process of using the blue phones should be talked about more often.
“I think they are a good Idea,” Thompson said, “but I do not think they are well spaced. It would also be nice for them to talk to students more about it more than only once during orientation. Maybe then more student will know about it.”
Ivey said students should realize the phones are taken seriously by the TTP and use the phones only when necessary.
For more information on the locations of the blue phones, visit the crime prevention section of the TTPD website at https://www.depts.ttu.edu/ttpd/.
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