The Public Safety offices are being reorganized this fall to make the south side building more user friendly, and allow officers easier access to a federal crime database, according to spokesman Sergeant Maurice Carter.
The transit department, which is most frequently used by students to get parking passes and pay parking tickets, is now the first desk beyond the entrance.
Public Safety is considering the addition of automated terminals where students can file complaints when no officer is available. This idea has been floated for some time, Carter said, and is not part of the fall redesign plan but the possibility has "not been squashed."
The dispatch system will be moved to a more secure location out of public view so officers can access the FBI's National Crime Information Center database of national criminal records.
"Federal law requires certification for someone to even be in the room when the NCIC is in use, and when dispatch was in such an open location, we could never have contained who was there," Carter said. "Now we'll be able to lock the room and use the best technology there is."
Dominic Ouellette, a sophomore in the School of International Service who worked for Public Safety said the rearrangement would be safer.
"The old system was almost dangerous, having dispatch in such a public area," Ouellette said. "Now that it's being moved to the back, a much greater element of safety will be added to Public Safety itself."
Andrea Gomez, a freshman in the Mentorship Program at Tenley Campus, said she eagerly awaits the changes.
"Hopefully with the new system in place, we'll be able to feel an increase in security at all parts of AU, on both campuses."
The redesign should be completed in December.
