Blue lights offer security to UWRF campus

There are blue light phones located on campus for students to use when they need assistance in an emergency.

The blue light phones are blue poles with lights on top located around campus. There are eight phones in total. There is one at the Falcon Center, two on the trail back to campus from the Falcon Center and one each in lots A, K, N, R and Pay 2.  If students go to the printable map on the university’s website they can see the locations of the phones. The two phones on the trail back to campus are the newest phones.

All of the phones say emergency on them and have the blue light on top which makes them easier to see at night. There is a button that students can press to get help. There is only one button on them which makes it easy to figure out how to use.

They can be used in all types of emergencies, whether someone has been hurt, if there was an accident, or if a crime has been committed that needs further assistance. When a phone is used it dials directly to the Pierce County Sheriff's department dispatch center, and emergency services will then be sent out to the caller’s location if further assistance is needed.

Chief Karl Fleury said, “All that people have to do is push the button. It rings directly into the police dispatcher and they’ll send emergency services to your location to assist.”

The phones are checked every month to make sure that they are in working order. Chief Fleury said, “We have an officer that goes around and activates each one of the phones to make sure that they are ringing into the dispatch center.”

If a phone is not ringing into the dispatch center then a work order is sent to facilities to get it fixed immediately.