The course work, aimed at improving public safety in North Camden, is part of broader university outreach efforts emphasized by new Rutgers-Camden chancellor Wendell Pritchett, who has pledged to turn the university into a "national model for a civically engaged university."
The university's efforts also include a new partnership with three North Camden public schools.
On the recent lighting tour - the third this school year - the students focused on a targeted area: from Erie Street south to Vine Street and from Delaware Avenue east to Fifth Street.
But not all of the students in the course, called Public Safety in North Camden, are checking lights; others are cleaning up alleys and graffiti in the target area.
"Instead of a project in one area and a project in another area, we are trying to tie several relevant projects together in that one target area and then expand outward from there," said Howard, an adjunct criminal justice professor who led the lighting tour.
The course, offered through the university's new office of civic engagement, pairs students with organizations already doing work in the target area.
In the lighting project, students are helping the District Council Collaborative Board and Angel Osorio, the community justice director in the Camden County Prosecutor's Office. Starting with North Camden, the plan is to create neighborhood maps showing the location of light poles and whether those lights are functioning or not; the map will be displayed on the board's Web site, where residents can report outages to PSE&G.
"Our objective is to light up the city to deter crime," said Osorio, facilitator of the collaborative boards. "Many studies have shown and law enforcement as well as criminologists have held that they have less public safety challenges in well-lit areas."
