Knoxville (WVLT) - When school begins, more than 1,300 students will be living in two new resident halls in the Fort Sanders neighborhood.
UT Police are stepping up security measures to keep those and other students safe. They're installing lighting, security cameras and emergency phones.
Tommy Taylor has lived in Fort Sanders for years. He knows how dangerous the neighborhood can be.
"You don't want to leave your ipod in your car cause it'll get stolen my tire got stolen a while ago," resident Tommy Taylor said.
This fall 740 upperclassmen will be moving into Volunteer Hall formerly known as Knoxville Place Apartments, and 630 sorority women will be moving into Laurel Residence Hall.
"I think it makes since a lot of sororities are moving in," Taylor said.
UT police along with KUB and the city of Knoxville partnered to put up 41 street lights, 11 security cameras and 4 new emergency phones on 16th street between Cumberland and Highland Avenue.
"I think it's great this is kinda an unsafe area right now anything they can do to help is awesome," resident Sam Stallings said.
The new lampposts have the historic feel, but the lights are state of the art. The cameras will be the first ever on the streets, and they're IP addressable so police can access the video via the internet from the department.
"It's a visual deterrent like lighting obviously doesn't stop crime but makes it less likely criminals hang out in that area," UTPD Captain Keith Lambert said.
The new emergency phones are the first of all 130 phones to be replaced by next year, which is a huge undertaking for the PD, and they have an external PA system so the university can make announcements in the case of an emergency.
"Makes me feel a lot better I walk to work everyday and walk at night it makes me feel a lot better," Stallings said.
UT Police just hope all the students will use this walkway and not take shortcuts in the dark unpatrolled areas. Captain Lambert says additional security guards will be assigned to patrol that part of the Fort Sanders area. In addition, a female UT Police Officer will reside at Laurel Residence Hall with the sorority women.
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