UGA to install call boxes, make other ‘safety enhancements’ in wake of nursing student’s death

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - The University of Georgia announced it will install call boxes and make other “safety enhancements” to campus in the wake of Augusta University nursing student Laken Riley.

“A lot of students are really glad this is happening but really sad something had to happen in the first place for these measures to be taken,” said a UGA student.

The university announced more than $7.3 million in safety improvements Tuesday.

The university said it would reinstall the call boxes, which were taken down in 2004. The university will also increase the campus police department’s budget by a permanent 20%, add more security cameras and “lighting upgrades” and extend operation hours for a discount on Lyft rides.

“Those sound like all or pretty much even more than the measures students were asking for. So it’s really nice they responded really quickly to that and allocated a pretty big budget too,” said a senior who started a petition for emergency blue light call boxes shortly after Riley’s death.

The petition received nearly 26,000 signatures.

The university said, “call boxes alone do not inherently contribute to a safer environment; therefore, the new call box systems installed on campus will utilize new multi-functional capabilities that also incorporate security cameras and additional lighting. They will be located strategically in areas identified as ideal for camera coverage and enhanced lighting.”

Riley was killed Thursday morning near the intramural fields. She died from blunt force trauma to the head, according to the Athens-Clarke County Coroner’s Office and Morgue.

Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, was charged with malice and felony murder and several other charges in connection to Riley’s death. His arrest warrants accuse him of “disfiguring” Riley’s skull by hitting her with an unidentified object. He also allegedly dragged her body to a “secluded area” to hide the death, the warrants say.

Riley’s death was the first on-campus homicide since 1983.

MORE COVERAGE:

Everything we know about the 2 deaths on the University of Georgia campus

Petition started to bring back call boxes at UGA after deaths

Laken Hope Riley: Remembering the student killed on UGA’s campus