Extra cameras in the Mandeville Building to prevent stalking

Since December, two cameras have been hanging in the Mandeville Building; the purpose of these cameras is to catch a stalker. It is possible that this stalker is the same person as the one who pushed a Public Administration lecturer down a flight of stairs last week.

Since December, two cameras have been hanging in the Mandeville Building; the purpose of these cameras is to catch a stalker. It is possible that this stalker is the same person as the one who pushed a Public Administration lecturer down a flight of stairs last week.

According to letters sent to the University Council by both the Executive Board and the University Support Centre (USC), there were serious incidents in the Mandeville Building in the period between the first of September and the thirty-first of December 2016; these ‘incidents posed a danger to the health and safety of the employees, as well as to the integrity of the building’. What the incidents actually involved has not been made public. Although, it is known that anonymous letters were sent to a lecturer. Moreover, these letters were sent to the lecturer who was rendered unconscious when he fell down a flight of stairs last week. As it is possible that he was pushed, a police investigation into the incident has been instigated.

'Stalker'

According to the letter from the USC, the first camera was installed on 16 November to ensure the greater safety of our employees and to record any new incidents. The second camera was installed on 14 December to catch the ‘stalker’ red-handed. Under normal circumstances, the University Council would be entitled to approve the installation of cameras in advance but, due to the ‘seriousness of the circumstances’, approval was provided retrospectively in this case.

According to the spokesperson, Marjolein Kooistra from the Faculty of Social Sciences (FSW), it has not, as yet, been proven that the incidents between September and December are, by definition, related to last week’s incident. And as there is an on-going police investigation, very little information can be made public. However, Kooistra was able to confirm that the victim had now returned to work.

Earlier

• Police investigate fall from stairs in Mandeville building