SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane Community College is adding more security cameras after parents and students raised concerns about the safety of a parking lot where a student went missing.
Sara McNease was last seen at SCC on Oct. 8. She was missing for two weeks before being located in California. Police said she is safe and no crime was committed.
But parents and students had concerns over security camera coverage in the parking lot where she went missing. Many commented on a KREM Facebook post that other crimes have been committed in that location and cited the lack of security as an issue.
SCC President Kevin Brockbank said there are security cameras in the school's parking lots, but he would not say whether there were cameras in the lot where McNease's car was parked. Brockbank said he could not comment on the camera locations for security reasons.
There are no emergency boxes in any of the parking lots, but Brockbank said the school is working on a project to add more cameras and lights by the end of the school year.
Katherine Brynelsen's daughter attends SCC and says recently, her daughter was in a college parking lot when she was stared down by a strange man in his 40's who rapidly approached her before being able to get in her car and drive away from the man.
“There is no footage of who this person was and if there was cameras there when Sara went missing, there would be footage of who she was with and what happened to her,” Brynelsen said.
Katherine says the incident has left her daughter frightened so she wants to start a petition that will bring more cameras to the parking lot and have emergency call boxes installed around campus.
“It's just really frightening that there's nothing there if somebody is attacked,” she said.