Hoya Staff Writer Friday, September 8, 2006 Lindsay Anderson/The Hoya One of Georgetown’s functional call boxes, outside of White Gravenor.

After more than a year and a half of frustrated attempts to make a network of blue light call boxes fully operational, the university has abandoned its original contract with the company and has begun installing a more limited network of security devices in its place. The contract between the university and Security Services & Technologies, the company responsible for installing approximately 40 call boxes on and around campus, fell through early this year, according to Vice President for University Safety David Morrell. Isaac Blair, director of university facilities, said that the university hired Merical Electric to install five Talk-a-Phone emergency call boxes after the university terminated the contract with SST. The boxes are a test group for a larger network of the new devices, which is still in the works. Blair said that university officials were not satisfied with the performance of SST machines, which often dropped calls and did not properly connect to DPS phone lines. “We gave them performance standards that they did not meet,” Blair said. “We didn’t want to give students a false sense of security.” In November 2005, the university ordered SST to fix the malfunctioning call boxes within a month or remove the entire system. Negotiations persisted past the university’s deadline until the contract was canceled earlier this year. Officials at SST did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Darryl Harrison, director of the Department of Public Safety, said that SST was not reliable as working partner. “We decided we had to move forward,” Harrison said. Blair said that Merical had already installed four of its devices, two near LXR Hall and one each at the Car Barn and Nevils. A fifth device will be installed at Alumni Square this week. Blair estimated the cost of the initial installation of the five call boxes to be roughly $66,000, or about $13,200 per call box. He stressed that there is no set price for the entire project, mainly because each call box requires individual assessment and installation. “We can’t use [the cost of the five call boxes] as a measure for the entire system,” he said. “Everything has to be custom fit.” Blair said that hardwire call box systems require minor excavation in order to lay phone lines and connect them to the DPS phone system. He said that the final network will include 23 locations. Morrell said that he is still working with DPS on sites for the new boxes, but that students can expect the new call boxes to be eventually installed at Yates Gymnasium and the Observatory . “Things are still being decided at this point,” he said. Harrison said that the new Talk-a-Phone call boxes incorporate new technology that will help campus security respond more effectively and efficiently to emergencies. The new call boxes will have an auto diagnostic feature, which alerts DPS even if the victim is unable to communicate with emergency dispatchers. DPS also plans to install closed circuit cameras on the call boxes.