The Georgia Southern University Department of Public Safety is in the process of upgrading its surveillance equipment to track down theft on campus.

“We have expanded through student technology fees in June of this year. We have made the leap from the onsite storage to a centralized, state-of-the-art all digital IP system,” Lieutenant Robert Wayne McKinney of GSU Public Safety said.

Police have since then upgraded to around 700 surveillance cameras all around campus, not including the new residence complex that is in the process of being remodeled, said McKinney.

“Freedom’s Landing will have at least 150 new cameras being installed,” McKinney said.

Even with these new upgrades, some students are doubtful they will work, Taylor Kidd, junior Public Relations major, said.

“I don’t know if I so much believe the security cameras actually work. I mean, the police are a constant presence and I see them all the time, but I’m not so sure if I believe they are really doing everything that they can do,” Kidd said.

“I feel like (security) can be more improved. For example, with the security posts, a lot of the time they’re broken and I feel like police can patrol around campus more,” Kieron Goldsby, senior hotel and restaurant management major, said.

Although the increase in cameras has not yet put a major dent in crime, it has had a significant impact and will continue to progress, McKinney said.

“As far as deterring theft, I’m not sure how much it deters it, but we have really waxed their bald heads with it,” McKinney said.

One major problem area for thefts occurring every year is the RAC, McKinney said.

“We have several cases where we see the theft take place, and after we find out where (the stolen item) was put, we find out who the guy was. It’s quite a complicated process,” McKinney said.

The most frequently stolen item on campus is the iPhone, and the two most popular sites of theft for these phones are the RAC and Henderson Library, McKinney said.

“When folks come in the RAC, they just set (phones) down and go and play basketball or whatever they are there to do,” McKinney said.

“It is a tossup between the most popular item to take, and that is between the iPhone and a book bag containing an iPhone,” McKinney said.

The rates of catching theft suspects have almost quadrupled in success, said McKinney.

“We have gone up to 50 percent compared to 10 percent before, and it may be even more,” McKinney said.

Other students agree that security on campus has already improved compared to the previous fall semester, Christopher Herron, a freshman mechanical engineer major, said.

“Before the winter break I would have probably said I wasn’t too sure, but since being back, definitely around campus and the roads I think are more safe,” Herron said.

This new security system is set out to make campus police’s job a lot easier as well as limit the amount of thefts that go uncaught, McKinney said.

McKinney said, “This changes the way I do investigating a good deal.”