By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Princeton officials say they have concerns that 911 calls made from the campus of Princeton University are going to University Public Safety Department instead of the Princeton Police Department.
Officials say the arrangement, which has been in place for decades, is troublesome on different levels. On one hand, people might not be getting the help they need right away. Also, officials are concerned the arrangement allows the university to control the flow of the information about what is happening on its side of Nassau Street.
As it stands today, anyone calling 911 from a landline phone on campus or in a university building off campus, their call will go directly to the university Department of Public Safety a 70-member force that is unarmed.
Councilwoman Jo S. Butler said she is concerned those callers might not be getting the help they need.
”Is it causing a lag time for response?” Councilman Lance Liverman asked about the arrangement.
For its part, the university said last week that it has had 911 service for a long time, with trained staff handling the calls.
”The university has operated 911 service for the past two decades. The service, which is staffed round-the-clock by trained and certified New Jersey dispatchers, enables members of the university community who call from landlines on the university’s telephone network to reach the Department of Public Safety,” University spokesman Martin Mbugua said in an email.
”The department, whose police officers receive the same training as other police officers in the state, handles the calls and, if necessary, contacts Princeton police for assistance.”
Princeton Police Capt. Nicholas K. Sutter said his department and the university are trying to resolve the issues one at a time, first with making sure 911 calls made from off-campus buildings go to Princeton police. He said there is an expectation that someone calling 911 off campus in the greater Princeton area is expecting police to answer that call.
The second issue about 911 calls on campus is also a subject of discussion, Capt. Sutter said.Mr. Liverman said most universities have an emergency dispatch number for people on campus to call for help, except that the number is usually not 911.
Capt. Sutter said that by New Jersey law, 911 calls in a community have to go one location only, called a Public Safety Answering Point. That raises legal questions about whether the university ought to be operating a 911 dispatch in the first place.

