[Imcamericorps] Security issues

[Brian Duggan]

Hi All,

I witnessed and attempted to address serious security issues at the IMC
last night. I need to relate what happened, offer suggestions, and add
some history for context.

History first. This illustrates why the security issues are such a big deal.

In June of last year, one of Betsem's paintings and one of his cell
phones were stolen from his studio around noon on a Saturday. Both the
Elm Street door and the South basement door were found unlocked. There
were several IMC members inside on both levels at the time. The total
value of the stolen items were $750. They were never recovered.

Betsem has always had to deal with unsupervised children entering the
building after hours. The children range in age from 9 to 17 or 18. They
routinely enter the building through the Elm street door, the South
basement door, and sometimes the loading dock door. If there is activity
in the building, they will hide in stairwells and other poorly-lit areas
until members leave so that they can use the public computers. When
Betsem encounters them hiding, he confronts them. The children then
harass and threaten Betsem before they leave. Both Atef and Betsem
report that the children use the public computers to view pornography
and masturbate.

Here's what happened last night.

I left the Finance meeting around 5:45p. I hung around to try to catch
Durl on his way out, but I missed him. At 6:00p I left the Makerspace to
exit through the South basement door for a sandwich. As I turned the
corner, I saw a Bike Project member unlock the South basement door, turn
and head back to the Bike Project. I found Carol immediately and
informed her of what I'd seen. Then I left the IMC.

At 6:30, Betsem called me to inform me that he found children hiding in
the building and that they had harassed and threatened him. I asked him
if he needed me to come back immediately. He said that I did not because
they left immediately.

I returned to the IMC at 6:50p and found both the Elm Street door and
the South basement door unlocked. I entered the Bike Project to discuss
this with the members. The keyed volunteer, the one who had unlocked the
South door, said that that's what the Bike Project had always done. He
said that the Bike Project had been here longer than AmeriCorps. I
informed them of the security breach that had occurred half an hour
prior. The only cogent argument for leaving the door unlocked that any
of the members could offer was that they could not hear the doorbell
from inside their space.

I asked the members to lock the door last nights due to the security
breach and that I would relay their desire to hear the doorbell inside
their space to the building coordinators. They were noncommittal to
locking the door.

I made a thorough inspection of the entire building at 7:00p and locked
the Elm Street door. When I returned to the South basement door at
7:10p, it was still unlocked. I do not know how to lock the South
basement door.

Here are some notes and suggestions for myself and others when dealing
with security issues.

Notes:
1. Despite our efforts, security has not meaningfully improved since
last summer at the IMC.

2. Members of the IMC and specifically the Bike Project and SDAS (who
use the Elm Street door) clearly do not understand the severity of their
negligence of locking doors.

Suggestions:
1. All AmeriCorps staff should know which doors should be locked, when,
and how to lock each door. FYI*:

The Elm Street and South Basement doors should ALWAYS be locked.

The red doors should only be unlocked during IMC open hours - between
10am and 6pm, Monday through Friday.

The C4A and front building door should be locked after 9pm every day.

* This is my understanding. Please correct me if these are not right.

All AmeriCorps should know how to lock every door. I will ask Leon to
show me how to lock the South basement door today.

2. Teamwork. The Bike Project members made me feel very uncomfortable
and were dismissive of me when I told them I was an AmeriCorps member.
In the future, I will try to approach IMC members about security issues
in a group. I could have asked Carol to accompany me to the Bike Project
immediately.

Finally, AmeriCorps should feel comfortable asking each other for help
when they need to address these issues with IMC members. Everyone should
feel comfortable calling me if they want help. My number is

631 223 8442

Text or call any time.

Hope this was informative.

Thanks,
Brian

-- 
Brian Duggan
Technical Projects Developer
UC Independent Media Center
http://www.ucimc.org | 631 223 8442