Philip Zoppi – General Assignment Reporter
Pine Rock Avenue can be a dangerous place to walk home at night. Some students feel that there should be a blue emergency phone on this road for student access. The Southern police department is confident they don’t need it.
Students have made a petition to insert a blue emergency phone on this roadway, but it didn’t go through. There are many reasons behind why it didn’t go through, but the main one is that it’s simply not necessary.
Chief Dooley believes that the process of putting a blue emergency phone into that property wouldn’t make a lot of sense.
“The hookup that would be needed for that is far too extensive,” said Dooley. “We’ve increased patrol and lighting on that roadway, though. We’re also working with student government and the resident hall association to improve safety on that roadway.”
Just a few weeks ago, on Sept. 4, a Southern student was involved in an armed robbery in front of the apartment complex at 190 Pine Rock Ave. Although this particular incident was not found to be random, it does prove just how dangerous this road can be.
The police department has said they have no plans of installing a blue emergency phone on the roadway any time soon, but they do monitor Pine Rock Avenue very heavily.
A blue emergency phone being put on this roadway would be helpful, but the Southern police do a superb job of making this roadway safe for students. That’s why it’s not needed.
Sergeant Marc Tullo is one of the men responsible for keeping this roadway safe. Tullo and his fellow officers have different techniques on how they can keep it safe.
“I’ll sit there with the cruise lights on and that will slow people down like crazy,” said Tullo, referring to Pine Rock Avenue. “It’s for the people walking up and down the streets. If anyone is thinking about doing something they shouldn’t be, they’ll see us sitting there on the street and hopefully think better of it.”
There is usually an officer who will sit at the intersection of Pine Rock Avenue and Fitch Street with their cruise lights on doing the radar gun and patrolling the area from 6:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.
Chief Dooley and Sergeant Tullo strongly encourage students to walk in groups when they come home late at night. Pine Rock Avenue has been known to be a road that has had many student parties on it, so students exercise caution.
Southern also offers a shuttle service until 11:00 p.m. if students feel unsafe walking. The Southern Police Department highly recommend that a student call them if they feel threatened or uneasy about walking home at night.
There should be no excuse for a student walking home by themselves on this roadway at night. If a student is worried about it, all they have to do is call the police.
Chief Dooley is doing everything in his power to ensure that nothing else happens on Pine Rock Avenue.
“We’ve increased patrols and the lighting on that roadway,” said Dooley. “We’ve also spoken with the Hamden and New Haven police departments, who also patrol that roadway, and asked them to increase their visibility and patrol on that roadway as well.”
The bottom line is a blue emergency phone on this roadway doesn’t make any sense. It would take too many resources to have it installed. This roadway is heavily monitored by the Southern, New Haven and Hamden police, and students should feel a little safer with that knowledge.
Photo Credit: Philip Zoppi – General Assignment Reporter
