Michael Cummings, News Editor
cummings@grinnell.edu
Scott Kinnie will be stepping in as Interim Director of Campus Safety and Security while Steve Briscoe is on medical leave, according to a College announcement issued Wednesday, May 12. Kinnie, who previously served on University Police for 36 years at Kean University in New Jersey, is hitting the ground running with multiple plans for security changes at Grinnell.
“I have three primary goals,” Kinnie said. “Hiring more people, the training of the staff as well as faculty and staff on campus … and upgrading their technology. We’re looking to make things more efficient — to move away from the actual paperwork that we have and computerizing the department.”
Nonetheless, Kinnie recognizes that small liberal arts colleges come with their own unique crimes. In Grinnell’s case, Kinnie is especially concerned with the issue of theft.
“I think the big problem is people leave doors unlocked and individuals can come into the room and take your property,” Kinnie said. “So I think it’s really important to do proactive crime prevention by making sure that people lock the doors. Part of what we’re going to start doing is having security officers walking around residence halls, different buildings on campus, and when we find a door unlocked and nobody there, slipping a little note … under the door, just to encourage them to keep the doors locked.”
Kinnie says he plans to make Security more accessible to students, including adding improvements to the Clery warning system.
“I think it’s such a serious issue, Clery compliance,” Kinnie said. “We’re hiring a full-time person that’s just going to be the … Clery Act Coordinator. That’s going to really be coordinating a lot of the messages that we do at the College as it relates to Clery.”
While Kinnie recognizes that his proposed change will not be implemented immediately, he is excited to move forward with Grinnell’s safety.
“It’s an ongoing process … [improvements are] based on funding, [especially] technology improvements,” Kinnie said. “It just goes along with part of the process of making the campus safer and more secure for everybody.”
