In an effort to make the campus more secure, the college has made lock changes to eight of its 22 buildings.
The new locks, which can be found on the Liberal Arts and Applied Arts buildings, Student Services Center, and five other structures on campus, will receive the new Schlage system that functions through card access rather than hard keys.
“This is a great advantage for the college,” Buildings and Grounds Manager Bruce King said. “This system is much easier to work, and it eliminates the stress of hard keys.”
He said that with hard keys, if somebody loses one it puts the college at risk, because if there is a missing key to one of the buildings, anyone could find it and have access to the college. With the new system, however, hard keys could be eliminated all together.
“With the new key card access, we can shut down the card from the main control and stop access for that card so it cannot be used,” King said. “Then we can just order that person another card and reprogram it for them.”
He said that with hard keys, they would have to get another key made and hope nobody finds the lost one.
“It really makes the campus safer and more secure from any threats that may arise,” King said. “Even in the event of a emergency, we can lock all the doors from the main control and give access to emergency personnel or qualified faculty and staff who has been approved.”
Vice President Carol Maga said the switch to key card access was made to improve security on campus.
“(The college is) trying to have all buildings equipped with the new system,” she said
Senior Parking Officer Vidal Garcia said the locks are also being changed, because it helps Police Services track who is coming in and out of buildings and who has access to buildings at particular times.
“Right now, we have selected people — deans, other qualified staff and faculty and building monitors — who have key cards,” Garcia said. “So in the event of an emergency, they will be able to open doors for people and have access to the buildings.” He said this program is good, because if he is ever absent, then officials from sister campuses Diablo Valley College and Los Medanos College can control the key card access from their main control.
“It interlinks all three campuses, giving access to those who need it and stripping access from those who don’t, making the campus more secure,” Garcia said.
With this new system, Police Services can check who went into a building, what time they came in, and what time they left all from the swipe of a card, he said.
This could be helpful in a situation in which there was a crime, Garcia said, so the switch to key card access is a crime prevention tool.
Contact Lamar James at ljames.advocate@gmail.com
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