TOLEDO, Ohio — Five colleges and universities in northwest Ohio will soon be making much-needed campus security upgrades.
The state awarded 27 institutions $5 million in grants, including the University of Toledo, Bowling Green State University, Owens Community College, Northwest State Community College and Terra State Community College.
UToledo will use more than $200,000 to boost its emergency radio communication and improve areas where radio signals are weaker such as the engineering campus.
"The bidirectional amplifiers will not just help out UTPD, but really any emergency responder in Lucas County. It will boost their signal and provide them more improved communication," University of Toledo Chief of Police Jeff Newton said.
The university will also invest in portable radios for the hospital security team and police operations for use during special events.
Owens Community College will spend more than $100,000 to upgrade its door access system at the Center for Fine and Performing Arts, allowing them to use ID cards.
"It helps the buildings to be more secure where we don't have to rely on a person to come out and lock and unlock a building," Owens Community College Chief Information Officer Jared Baber said. "Sometimes that can be forgotten and a building can be left unsecured and unlocked. This way, we don't have to worry about that. We know it's on a schedule."
At BGSU, more than $100,000 will be used for cybersecurity upgrades, specifically to the university's firewalls. This will support multiple layers of data protection to prevent ransomware and protect data.
The institutions applied for the grant in July and expect to receive the money sometime before the end of the year.