After the Halloween night on-campus
shooting, University of Southern California sought to enhance its security.
More security cameras have been added in buildings and on campus. The greatest
change was the implementation of fingerprint scanning technology. During the
following week, University of Southern California’s student housing authority
sent out emails that fingerprint scanners would be installed at the entrance of
every on-campus residence facility. The reason for the installation of
fingerprint scanners was not only to reduce crime, but also to allow students
to enter their buildings even after losing their IDs.
However, are the fingerprint scanners worth
it? I believe we should question whether the fingerprint scanners actually halt
crimes and improve the security. If one decides to gain access to any of the
buildings, one will anyhow find a way to do it.
Additionally, what matters more is the inconvenience arising from the
fingerprint scanners. Students stand in
lines to do the fingerprint scanning and the guest-pass system seem to annoy
many of the students who brings over friends and family over. Also, having
security guards sit in front of each fingerprint scanner is a significant
consumption of energy and money. USC should compare the opportunity costs of
the installation of the fingerprint scanners with their actual effectiveness,
and further consider the use of it in the long run.
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