A-State makes security upgrades

JONESBORO, Ark. (KAIT) - A new football season is underway, and basketball is just around the corner. For those who come to cheer on the Red Wolves, Arkansas State University is keeping their safety in mind.

“We work extremely hard to have a community policing model on campus and then back that up with a lot of monitoring,” said Bill Smith, chief communications Officer at A-State.

Over the summer, the university brought new security upgrades to campus, not just at the sports venues.

“We now have a significant number of additional video monitoring stations on the perimeter of campus so that we can have a better idea of who is coming on and off campus both in vehicles and on foot,” he said.

The university has more than 1,000 cameras across campus and plans to add more.

Security at each venue looks a little different. Those at First National Bank Arena will find themselves walking through metal detectors, but they are not at Centennial Bank Stadium or Tomlinson Stadium.

“The nature of the concerts and the other events that are happening in there, and it’s an indoor venue, they would have the magnetometers, where in football because it’s an outdoor venue as well as Tomlinson Stadium,” he said.

For the outdoor venues, Smith said the school follows guidelines from the NCAA and the Sun Belt Conference, where people just need to make sure their bags are clear or small enough.

“That’s one of the best deterrents for having problems getting inside of the venue, is by having a good search policy at the perimeter and then to have a clear bag policy,” he said.

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