Penn State to add hundreds of security cameras

Penn State has installed about 2,000 security cameras throughout its campus since 1995, and more cameras are coming.

The university will spend $1.4 million to add another 422 cameras by May, the Centre Daily Times reported. Those cameras will be placed in 60 residence halls and commons buildings, with the focus on entrance lobbies, exit stairwells, elevators and service desks.

“It is a force multiplier for police,” Paul Ruskin, business operations coordinator at the Penn State Office of Physical Plant, told the Centre Daily Times. “This campus has 946 buildings on it. As good a police force as we have, we don’t have one person per building.”

Penn State plans to automatically budget for cameras when planning for all future buildings and renovations, Ruskin said.