Budget Proposal: Columbia University
Instructions: Select an organization for the basis of this assignment, such as a drug company, shopping mall, bank, or university.
Write a 1,400- to 2,100-word budget proposal for the security department of a company or organization for the coming fiscal year. As the security director, your proposal must seek to improve all aspects of access control for the organization. Include the following in your proposal:
Compare electronic technologies in relation to access control and surveillance.
Determine if the electronic technology and surveillance is a better fit for your chosen company and provide justification.
Include a cost–benefit analysis.
Format your proposal consistent with APA guidelines.
Solution.
Budget Proposal: Columbia University
Campus violence in the past five years has been on the rise in universities and colleges. The society is affected by such cruel acts of violence in the colleges and universities in the country. Columbia University security division is held responsible for sustaining and providing adequate safety to students and staff that attend the facility. Additionally, the security department has a great deal in protecting the sensitive and vital information that are put on cyber and physical platforms. To improve the safety of students and staff in the university, the security department has researched a budget proposal that will be able to cater to the needs of the population inside and around the campus. In order to boost the quality of life in the facility, a strong budget proposal on the security measures must be formulated. Revamping the current budget will aim at revitalizing the safety mishaps at the facility.
Columbia University is engulfed in 15 acres of land. 8-foot-high fences surround the university. There are only three access points that allow people to have access to the university. The University is structured in such a way that it has seven dormitories, ten halls of lecture, three dining facilities, one administration block, a security department building and a library. The security department has a responsibility of patrolling the campus and deterring acts of crime around the facility. In order to provide maximum and efficient security measures, the proposal budget below is a swift action that the management must take note to in allocation of resources to cater for the safety of the population inside the campus. The potential security risks that prone to happen in the facility if funds are not allocated efficiently to the budget proposal include: assault to students and staff members, cybercrimes, acts of terrorism, active shooters, and threats of fire.
Budget Proposal
A budget of 700,000 dollars is proposed to cater for the cost of personnel, acquisition of equipment, maintenance of the equipment and the implementation of the security measures as suggested. This budget proposal is objectively focused on the improvement of the physical safety and preparations on emergency cases at the facility. Changes in the budget will drastically enhance the ability to protect the most valuable assets in the facility. The proposed security measures will dominantly focus on acquiring new personnel to mitigate breaches in security tendencies and secure the facility’s infrastructure. Therefore, the role of the head security personnel stipulates that the staff in the security department be technical and tactical in his decisions and efficiently supported by a workable budget.
Justification
Universities are facilities that are tasked to provide safe and secure surroundings to promote better education to its population. This proposal will provide a process and a platform to stop, prevent acts of crime around the facility. Acts of violence and terrorism in the most campus in the US are disrupting the peace of students and tranquility of university life. The security department must receive unconditional support to make students, staff and other citizens in the facility are safe and secure.
With more security cameras, police and emergency call stations, the university will be able to monitor and solidify security on the facility. The management must approach this measures from an integrated approach. The school has to understand the threats, vulnerabilities and the damage posed by incidents of crime (Johnson & Barton-Bellessa, 2014). Any inadequate support to the implementation of the proposed measures will lead to a propensity for acts of misconduct in the university. This budget is designed in a manner to protect the lives of students and staff in the campus and to allow security personnel maintain security in colleges appropriately. Also, with the implementation of this budget the security of computer networks in the facility will be secured.
Cost and Benefits Analysis
Costs
A budget of $420,000 will be allocated to the security department in the new fiscal year. The security manager will earn $60,000 annually. A total of ten guards earning $30,000 each and two information security personnel earning $ 40,000 each.
Ways to foster security
These process will account to around $225,000. First, there will be the installation of a CCTV surveillance system in the facility to provide prevention and capturing of images of criminal activities and offenders. The use of such cameras will provide for an excellent way to capture and prosecute criminals. The security department will be able to manipulate the system to zone in a particular location in the facility to quarantine a situation appropriately. Also, the proposal suggests that the patrol will be conducted 24 hours daily with the staff shifting proportionately.
Secondly, installation of an alarming system and locking on doorways will further foster deterrence of violence in the institution. Silent alarms will be fixed in specific areas in the lecture halls. The alarms will be activated during specified curfew hours. Such a strategy will allow the security personnel to alert the authorities of any criminal activities in the facility. Lecture halls will be installed with the panic rooms to protect students and staff in an active shooter situation. Such rooms will have direct connections with the emergency departments in and out of campus such as the police, fire department and the EMS.
Thirdly, fire alarms will be placed strategically at entrances and exits per floor. This system will also have a direct linkage to the fire station to increase response time. There will be the distribution of portable extinguisher, automatic external defibrillators(AED) and a fire axe on every door. Also, metal detectors and screening posts will be installed at the main administration building and other departments in the facility to protect the most sensitive buildings in the university. All vehicles with cargo entering or leaving campus will be inspected thoroughly to curb illegal transportation of contraband in the facility. Lastly, a secret nerve center will be placed anywhere in the facility to act as a command station for security department and university officials to control and monitor security mishaps. The main security building will serve as a center for students to submit reports, pay fines, place complaints, and catalog access levels. Therefore, all the students and staff members will be assigned with registration the matches with his or her level of access to designated areas in the university.
Information Technology Measures
Prevention of cyber crimes is principal within the society today. Information must be kept safe from the hands cybercriminals (Finn, 2004). It calls for staff and students to take the necessary steps in ensuring that information systems in the facility are protected. A budget of around $100,00 will be allocated to this sector. To begin with, biometric access monitors will be fixed to access the networking system in the university. The biometrics will be cross-referenced with the matching access badge of every student and staff member. Also, there will be the installation of passwords and codes at every level of access. All computers in the facility will be installed with the latest anti-virus and firewall software (Weis, Sarma, Rivest, & Engels). Also, the security department will offer cyber-training to the security personnel.
Maintenance Costs
Maintenance costs will amount to around $40,000. This will focus on repair and maintenance of the new biometric system and the alarm system. It also includes the purchase of equipment and minor parts to the security systems. There will be electrical locking systems that will backup substations and generators so that the systems cannot go off in the case of power failure. Also, the security department will acquire new and updated equipment and technology in the future. As technology consistently keeps changing the security office has to make some adjustments (Wilson & Hash, 2003).
Benefits
This proposal strategically focusses on the improvements of security that Colombia University employs to use. If the management adapts to this plan requirements, there will be enhancements on safety and levels of security in the facility (Fray, 2001). Many schools and colleges are engulfed by the inability to prevent crimes that go unseen. Perhaps the best way to alleviate any incidences of crime in the facilities like colleges and university is through educating, preparation and training of the concerned parties. Columbia University as such will change on issues concerning security when the proposal is followed to the latter. If the proposal is underfunded, the facility will be vulnerable to criminal activities. For example, if the equipment mentioned above is not installed and monitored regularly there will be illegal activities in the facility.
The greatest benefit of all in this proposal is that the security and safety of the population in the university will be improved drastically. Also, the other social benefit that this proposal has is that the community will be able to be at peace and allow their children join the campus without worries. Such an advantage is fundamental since the community will have to trust ibn the management of the university. Thereby, the university will be able to receive donations from the community to improve the service delivery to its students and the community as a whole. A safe society is conducive to life. Therefore, such a proposal is an enhancement of security at the facility and the community (Miles, 2015).
Conclusion
The aim of this budget plan is geared towards eradication of vulnerabilities to crime in the facility. Professionalism and financial support to the project will be able to foster enhanced security details and safety measures in the facility (Collins, 2016). Columbia University security department must adhere to the plan to improve the security and safety of its populace. The principal aim of physical and cyber-security is to prevent, detect, delay and stop any criminal activity that goes on on campus. All crimes must be deterred in an education institution to create a lively environment for learning the process to take place. Past events in the university have occurred due to lack of this protection strategy. According to reports, most crimes occur due to negligence and inadequate security systems in the facilities. Also, substandard pay to the security personnel has been a leading cause of neglect of criminal activities in universities. Therefore, with this proposal implemented entirely, Columbia University will be one of the safest campuses in the US. Students and staff will have no worries of the security details in the facility.
References
Collins, A. (2016). Contemporary Security Studies. New York: Oxford university Press.
Finn, J. (2004). A Survey of Online Harassment at a University Campus. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 19(4), 468-483.
Fray, J. J. (2001). Contemporary Security Management (2nd ed.). New York: Sage Publishers.
Johnson, B. R., & Barton-Bellessa, S. M. (2014). Consequences of School Violence: Personal Coping and Protection Measures by School Personnel in their Personal Lives. Deviant behavior, 35(7), 513-533.
Miles, D. (2015). Consider growth over the years in the role of the campus public safety director. Campus Security Report, 12(7), 1-5.
Weis, S. A., Sarma, S. E., Rivest, R. L., & Engels, D. W. (n.d.). Security and Privacy Aspects of Low-Cost Radio Frequency Identification Systems. In In Security in Pervasive Computing (pp. 201-212). Berlin: Springer.
Wilson, M., & Hash, J. (2003). Building an Information Technology Security Awareness and Training Program. NIST Special publication, 800, 50.
