Since 1999, the Division of Public Safety, in partnership with University faculty, staff and students, and West Philadelphia community leaders and residents, has maintained a system of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras for the purposes of crime prevention and crime abatement. Before any cameras were installed, a seven-person CCTV  monitoring panel was established in order to ensure compliance with the CCTV policy, and to include the feedback of our community members in the continual process of planning and upgrading the CCTV network.

PennComm emergency dispatching operators, like the police officers assigned to various geographic sectors for active walking, bike, and vehicle patrol, are trained to view the Penn patrol zone using the cameras through virtual patrol on a 24/7 basis (the Penn patrol zone includes 30th Street to 43rd Street, on the east-west border, and Market Street to Baltimore Avenue, on the north-south border).

Ensuring the safety and security of the Penn community is our primary responsibility, and doing so in a way that respects the concerns and needs of our constituents, is paramount to our mission.