Beaver Canyon surveillance cameras might be in the spotlight right now, but the need for additional lighting downtown is receiving some behind-the-scenes attention from at least one student group.

The Off-Campus Student Union (OCSU) has been working with State College Borough officials to bring light to the darker areas of downtown since before the Undergraduate Student Government recognized it as a student group in April, OCSU President Kristen Kofmehl said.

The results of a first wave of improvements are in, and OCSU officers are pleasantly surprised, she said.

In early November, some OCSU officers and borough engineer Amy Story walked downtown to evaluate areas where lighting had been added and areas that still needed to be improved.

"The results were better than I thought," Kofmehl said.

"A lot of additional lighting had been added by property owners and the borough," she added.

OCSU Vice President Adam Freedgood said he was surprised by the brightness on Calder Way but added that a few other areas could still be improved. "We did identify a couple of pockets that presented places for people to potentially hide out," Freedgood said.

The union will next examine West College Avenue, where it is "extremely dark," Kofmehl said.

In the spring, OCSU plans to send letters to those businesses and apartments west of Atherton Street, Freedgood said.

In August, the borough installed about 32 light poles between Beaver Avenue and Hamilton Street through the fraternity district, assistant borough engineer Bill McNeal said.

"That's a major corridor to a lot of student housing," he said. "There was concern from the students that use that walkway."

McNeal said borough engineers respond to the concerns of the public and the State College Borough Council when deciding where to install lights.

The borough also added nine lights to Calder Way in response to student concerns, Phillip Wagner, OCSU safety and transportation director, said.

OCSU plans to approach about five private property owners on Calder Way about installing motion sensor lights and possibly gates, Wagner said.

"The next wave is going to be private landowners," Kofmehl said.

Because of the many apartment buildings, businesses and bars along it, Calder Way is the biggest problem area in the borough when it comes to lighting, State College Police Sgt. Mark Argiro said.

"One of the first and best things a business owner or a homeowner can do to reduce their potential for being a victim is to increase lighting," Argiro said.

Extra lighting serves as a crime deterrent and can help victims identify perpetrators, he said.

"The less light you have, the easier it is for someone who wants to do somebody harm to lurk behind a tree or hide behind a bush," Argiro said.