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More School Districts Considering Cameras

DONNA — The idea of installing surveillance camera systems in schools to deter unsafe activity is picking up steam in at least three area school districts.

South Texas, Donna and Sharyland school districts are among the districts that are considering implementation of the monitoring systems.

“We just want to improve the security of the schools,” said South Texas spokeswoman Andi Atkinson said. “Basically we just want to take any preventive measure we can for the safety of our students.”

The Texas Education Agency does not track how many campuses have surveillance cameras and does not make recommendations on how to implement surveillance programs. But the Center for Safe Communities & Schools at Texas State University offers a guide to school districts considering surveillance cameras.

According to the center, surveillance cameras can deter outsiders who don’t belong on campus as well as deter students from engaging in malicious activity.

Donna will likely consider next month whether to contract with a company called LenSec to install cameras at its five secondary school campuses. Superintendent Robert Loredo said the district’s W.A. Todd Ninth Grade Campus would likely be the first school to get the surveillance systems.

Under the plan, each of Donna’s secondary school campuses would have six cameras, both inside and outside the schools, said Alan Morris, regional sales director for LenSec. Each campus would also have at least one camera that can pan, tilt, zoom and pick up images in the dark, Morris said.

“Cameras are important and document activity,” Morris said. “How individuals use it is really up to them.”

“This is for the safety of our kids,” Loredo said. Last year, TEA labeled Donna High School and W.A. Todd as “persistently dangerous.”

The LenSec system would cost more than $500,000 and be funded with a federal grant.

Under LenSec’s system — which is also the one that South Texas is considering and PSJA already has — video images can be viewed from almost any computer, PDA or cell phone with computer access. Morris said that is particularly important during an emergency.

In a report on surveillance cameras, the Department of Justice explains that administrators and security personnel should understand that, for the most part, cameras are more effective identifying crime after the fact as opposed to stopping an ongoing incident.

Donna school board member Gilbert Guerrero said he intends to vote against the cameras because the district should have sought bids on the system, though he supports surveillance cameras themselves. The district is considering buying the cameras through a municipal cooperative known as the BuyBoard.

“It’s good to have students … know if you do something wrong, you’re going to get caught on camera, just to keep them on their toes,” Guerrero said. “It’s a deterrent to any illegal activity. But we need to go out for bids.”

Next month, South Texas will also decide whether to install 32 cameras across its three magnet schools. If approved, the cameras will be operational early in the spring semester, Atkinson said.
Atkinson said the decision to consider cameras was not due to any particular incident or uptick in student violence, but the district conducted a security audit last year where it was determined cameras could deter misbehavior.

The cameras will likely cost the district more than $150,000, which it budgeted for last year.
“Even though we don’t have a problem, we felt it can’t hurt,” Atkinson said.

Meanwhile, Sharyland also has several surveillance cameras in non-student areas, such as the exterior of an elementary school, which has had few break-ins, and at its bus fleet.
Superintendent Scott Owings said the district would eventually consider adding cameras to student areas, such as school bus pickup areas where students gather.

McAllen school district has had cameras since 1996 but upgraded them in the middle of last school year. Cameras are in place at its three high schools and Morris Middle School.

PSJA also upgraded its system last year, and now has cameras at all its secondary schools.
“It’s really a precaution for the safety of the kids,” spokeswoman Arianna Vazquez said.

Security Cameras Effective In Schools

The Marion County Board of Education is working to apply for a school safety grant to install more security updates to the county's schools, including security cameras.

Fairmont Senior High School installed several security cameras last year and Principal Chad Norman says they're really helping out.

The cameras are spread out all over campus and can be monitored from different administrative offices as well as online by a few school officials.

Norman says it's a pro-active safety measure that they're glad to be taking. They put their cameras in strategic locations to help with student behavior and safety. They used data from their Responsible Students Program to local "hot spots" where students would tend to hang out or loiter.

Norman says the presence of the cameras has cut down on student tardiness, improved student behavior, and has allowed them to police the campus and catch students involved in a few on campus incidents this year.

Fairmont Senior High School plans to continue to install more cameras to continually increase student safety and security.

The Board of Education is still working on specific details of the application for the grant.

Read the entire article here

4 Denver high schools to get exterior cameras

Police will be able to monitor feeds from 21 security cameras being placed outside four of Denver's most crime-affected high schools in an effort to boost security, officials announced Thursday. The cameras are being funded by $400,000 in grants from Target Corp. and the U.S. Justice Department.

Denver Public Schools has about 1,400 cameras inside and outside its buildings monitored by district security officials. The partnership puts exterior cameras on East, Montbello, Manual and Abraham Lincoln high schools and allows police direct, wireless access to the video.

"It's all about prevention," Ed Ray, head of DPS security, said at a news conference outside East High announcing the partnership that also featured comments by Mayor John Hickenlooper and Police Chief Gerry Whitman.

Public safety is the entire community's responsibility, not just the police's, said Hickenlooper, and nowhere is that safety more important than at schools. "This is an exciting moment," Hickenlooper said. "In the end, it can't only be the Police Department. It takes all of us."

Schools receiving the new cameras were chosen based on crime statistics, Whitman said. In the past six months, police have investigated 17 criminal incidents near East High, including assault with a weapon, auto theft and burglary, according to the county's website. In the same period, there have been seven incidents investigated near Montbello, 12 near Abraham Lincoln and 14 near Manual, according to the website.

Civil-liberties advocates worry that cameras outside schools could infringe on privacy rights. "Surveillance cameras around school raise issues about how we think of and treat our children," said Cathryn Hazouri, director of the ACLU of Colorado. "That is certainly something that the ACLU wants to talk about with DPS and the police to find out how these cameras will be used and what impact this will have on the students' and the teachers' privacy."

Read the article here.

See the news video here

GHS Students no longer shy about cameras

Security cameras installed throughout Greenwich High School that some students at first felt invaded their privacy are now being praised for lowering theft rates and identifying troublemakers.

The cameras were put to work recently when two students were caught on tape setting off a powerful firecracker inside the school last month, according to headmaster Alan Capasso.

"This is exactly what it's in place for," said Capasso, who wants the teens expelled. The firecracker was set off with other students nearby, but no one was injured.

The cameras, which cost about $275,000, can be remotely controlled by security staff to pan and zoom in full color and good clarity. Some parents and students worried about invasion of privacy, but Capasso said security staff now have a better way to keep the school safe.

"When you have close to 2,800 teenagers in any one location, it is something that clearly needs to be monitored. We don't have the personnel to monitor everything. The cameras assist us," Capasso said.

Student body president Matt Turzilli said students are less apprehensive about the cameras than they were at the start of the school year, when the student newspaper, The Beak, said students feared the administrators were always watching them.

"There has been a lot of progress," Turzilli said. Students have learned that staff members don't scrutinize every minute of the surveillance to try to catch every misdeed. Turzilli said students especially like that security can now more easily spot theft of small items.

"That's been good, because we're getting back iPods. There was a lot of theft going on," Turzilli said.

Read the entire article here

Learn more about IP network cameras at www.ipcamerademos.com

JVC provides Treloar College with IP security cameras and security management software

Treloar College, a specialist college for disabled students based in the outskirts of Alton in Hampshire, provides education, care, therapy, medical support and independence training to young people aged 16 and over with physical disabilities from all over the UK and overseas.

JVC Professional Europe have provided Treloar College with IP security cameras and security management software for a comprehensive IP security system. The project is supported by the City Livery Company of Security Professionals, as well as by JVC.

The security system is designed to be entirely future-proof and additional security cameras can be added to the system as and when needed and depending on how the requirements of students attending the college changes.

At present, the security system comprises 17 security cameras which are located around the college and are operated over a local area network (LAN) connected to a PC server. JVC supplied Milestone Xprotect Basis Plus software which is installed on a PC server and manages the security system. The existing four analogue cameras are encoded using the JVC VN-A1U 1 channel IP encoders to enable the signal to be viewed on the IP system. Footage is recorded and saved for two weeks, and the security system can be adjusted for use during the holiday period as and when the routine changes.

Read more about the story at www.securitypark.co.uk

MDI and Construction Electronics, Inc. Team to Provide Unified Security Solutions to San Diego School District as Part of $5M Blanket Contract Award

CEI to Unify Intelligent IP Video from OnSSI into the MDI Platform to Deliver District-Wide Campus Security with Real-Time Surveillance Management       

SAN ANTONIO--MDI, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDII), the leading provider   of Unified Technology™ solutions for the security industry today announced that they have partnered with Construction Electronics, Inc. (CEI), a professional services organization that specializes in the design, engineering and management of large complex campus security and communications systems projects, to supply unified security solutions as part of a $5 million blanket contract for campus security with the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD). The team began the advanced phase of the district's security modernization project with a separate order for two individual school buildings, which was announced by MDI on April 20th of this year.

      

CEI is scheduled to begin implementation of the district-wide project immediately after the first MDI product order is received and delivered. The initial acquisition will consist of various servers, workstations, identity solutions and operating software as part of the MDI unified security platform, which will act as the head-end for the district's centralized command and control center. SDUSD District Security Managers will utilize the MDI platform to control all security alarms and surveillance points, throughout each target campus in the district, from a central unified location.

      

The District selected the team's unified solution   based in part on its ability to:

      

• Empower school security teams to analyze and   respond to district-wide incidents in real-time                   
• Leverage the district's existing investments in security point products (cameras, DVRs, biometrics, etc.) to improve security via its open architecture technology platform        
• Improve efficiency of security resources through centralized management of security information and reporting from schools across the district        
• Ramp up the modernization program with minimal   training expense to realize an immediate time-to-benefit from the system                   
• Install, maintain and respond to system issues   according to exact district specifications                   
• Provide a history of success in delivering and maintaining comprehensive safety and security programs in school district environments vs. the sale and installation of point products (stand-alone camera and DVR products, access control products and alarm monitoring systems) which are not unified and in many instances provide a false sense of security in schools        
• Prove and track the effectiveness of the   district security program                   
• Integrate all physical security components   directly into the Learn Safe™ program if and when the   decision is made by the school to adopt it as a district program

      

"MDI systems have been successfully securing school   districts and diversified educational environments for many years," stated Frank Hermes, President of CEI. "Now that safety and security in schools is a top priority for administrators and educators across the country, that proven experience is more valuable than ever." "By combining the experience of MDI with the school campus security integration knowledge of the CEI team, I am confident that San Diego will soon have a security program that can be used as a model for all schools throughout the State of California and the entire Country," he added.

      

Once the district's central command center is complete, CEI will begin work on modernizing school campuses within the district that have been identified as initial implementation targets under the blanket contract. The team will unify the NetDVMS™ Intelligent Network Video solution from On-Net Surveillance Systems, Inc. (OnSSI) into the MDI Platform to furnish a combined approach towards prevention, detection and response within campus environments.

      

"We are pleased to partner with MDI and CEI in the   delivery of an integrated security solution for SDUSD. OnSSI's video surveillance platform will provide security officials the ability to effectively and intelligently view, manage, and respond to events, as they transpire in the school environment," said Gadi Piran, President and CTO of OnSSI.

      

The unified solution will deliver an un-matched security command and control   environment, which will automate:

      

• The identification and location of incidents   within a district campus                   
• The notification of school & security   personnel on & off campus        
• Real-time incident management and response                   
• Decision support for access mitigation measures   such as school lockdowns                   
• Visual situational awareness support for law   enforcement agencies and first responders

      

"The CEI technical security team are experts in integrating complex security systems across disperse school district environments," stated J. Collier Sparks, President and   CEO of MDI, Inc. "By adding state-of-the-art IP video capabilities from OnSSI into the MDI platform, CEI will take the San Diego School District to new levels of security and surveillance capabilities." "Once again, MDI is proud to be partnering with Frank and his dedicated team of security professionals on this key school security project and we look forward to many more such engagements in the future" he concluded.