UC Davis To Remove Emergency Phones
Emergency phones are being pulled out at the University of California, Davis.
The 107 public safety phones are going the way of the phone booth on campus, replaced by the cellphone. All the phones are to be removed by the end of the summer, according to a UC Davis press release.
The phones were originally meant to be used to provide assistance during emergencies in remote or isolated locations, says a Sacramento Bee report. The phones are mounted on walls or on poles, some with strobe lights that operate when the phone is in use.
"However, new generations of students, cellular technology and wireless 911 have made most land-line emergency phones all but obsolete," according to Jill Parker, associate vice chancellor for safety services, in the report.
Wireless 911 means that cellphone users can dial 911 on campus and calls can be directly routed to the UC Davis public safety dispatch center.
A 2009 report by a task force found that the phones are not often used for summoning emergency help. Of 324 calls made in 18 months, none was considered life-threatening, the report says.
Removing the phones will cost $70,000. The phones cost $36,000 a year to maintain.
Fourteen of the public safety phones in student residential areas and four in parking structures will be replaced with service phones with keypads that can be used to dial campus phone numbers, including 911, says the report.
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