Student’s murder sparks demand for emergency call boxes on UGA campus

By Joe Johnson

Students and parents are calling on University of Georgia leaders to reinstall emergency blue lights, also known as call boxes, on campus.

Although UGA became one of the first campuses in the nation to install emergency call boxes in 1988, officials said they decided to ditch the system in 2004 after they learned their phone system could no longer support the analog technology. Officials added that the systems would be useless without a costly digital upgrade.

University officials also added that after researching the call data from over eight years, they learned that UGA police received only seven calls from the boxes, none that were for emergencies.

Since the murder Thursday morning of 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley on a UGA jogging trail, a call has been raised for the reinstallation of the boxes.

In an online petition, a UGA student said the lack of the call boxes on campus can no longer be ignored.