Broadway security issues still a concern

Over the course of spring quarter, multiple security issues came up at Portland State’s Broadway Residence Hall, the most severe of which was an unknown male subject (or subjects) breaking into the rooms of female students.

CPSO aims to keep the Broadway Residence Hall safe by posting an officer at the building’s main entrance. Photo courtesy of PSU.
CPSO aims to keep the Broadway Residence Hall safe by posting an officer at the building’s main entrance. Photo courtesy of PSU.

Over the course of spring quarter, multiple security issues came up at Portland State’s Broadway Residence Hall, the most severe of which was an unknown male subject (or subjects) breaking into the rooms of female students.

The first of these events was reported on March 25, another on April 21. Since then, the Campus Public Safety Office has worked with Housing and Residence Life to further security measures at Broadway. Those measures included reducing access to the building through the various entrances, issuing access card to residents and stationing a security officer at the entrance to check the identification of people entering the building and oversee guests of residents signing in.

As the term comes to a close, security at Broadway is again an issue. CPSO Chief Phil Zerzan said that students moving in and out of residence halls is a big operation across campus.

“We plan for this situation months in advance with Housing,” he said. “Doors that are unlocked or taken off the automatic lock system have to be staffed.”

For Broadway, specifically, the current plan (having a security officer there to identify subjects entering the building) has been working well, Zerzan said; since its implementation there have been no more reports of burglaries.

Zerzan also said that an incident occurred on May 19 where a nonstudent accessed the building by using a lost or stolen access card belonging to a PSU student.

“This incident caused us to look at the process for deactivating the access cards,” Zerzan said. “We found there was room for improvement and those improvements have been implemented.”