MSU receives funding for security system

MSU will receive a $67,320 grant from MoDOT to implement the safety and security surveillance system at its recently completed parking garage and shuttle stop at Grand and Holland.

The grant will provide 80 percent of the funding needed for the system. The remainder, about $17,000, will be paid for by a portion of the $180,000 student safety fund, approved by the university’s Student Government Association last week.

A resolution regarding the grant was approved in July by the university’s Board of Governors.

The surveillance system will consist of six pan-tilt-zoom cameras, 21 fixed Pelco cameras, two monitors, two digital video recorders and fiber connectivity. The system’s cost also includes installation.

The cameras will be mounted strategically throughout the park-and-ride facility and will transmit to the university’s Public Safety Dispatch Center, which is staffed at all times.

The system is similar to the surveillance system at MSU’s other park-and-ride facility, constructed in the mid-1990s. Since the system’s installation, the university has monitored criminal activity such as drug distribution, drug usage, vandalism and assaults.