The Value of Extra Eyes

Nov 1, 2007 12:00 PM

Recently, officials at the Douglas County (Colo.) School District were faced with evacuating a high school campus following a bomb threat. The 1,700 students gathered at an assembly area and were escorted to a site on campus to meet with their parents or guardians.

Throughout the effort, district security officials monitored the process remotely with a camera system that let them view the majority of the campus.

“The camera system gave us the extra ‘eyes’ we needed to monitor the evacuation,” says Larry Borland, district director of school safety and security. “We were confident that no students were left behind, and the transfer to the parents went without any problems.”

When Borland joined the district in 2003, like many districts around the country, Douglas County had no comprehensive effort to provide for physical security and student safety.

He began a review and found areas in need of improvement, including the application of video technology. There had been only one campus in the district with an installed video system.

After creating a new security plan and reviewing bids from various system integrators, district officials decided to move forward with its goals using VTI Security Integrators through its Colorado Springs office.

Today, the district's eight high schools, seven middle schools and 49 elementary school campuses are protected by almost 800 cameras.

So far, the $1.2 million investment in video technology is living up to Borland's high expectations, he says.

Three years ago, he says, the district paid $123,000 to repair and replace property damaged by vandals. This school year, losses due to vandalism have dropped below $50,000.

Seven to eight cameras monitor a typical Douglas County elementary school campus. Video from the elementary schools is displayed on a monitor in each campus office, where administrators may view it at any time.

The situation is similar at the district's middle schools. But with students having more freedom to move about, another eight cameras were added to monitor the cafeteria and play yards - areas where trouble may begin.

The much more wide-open nature of a high school requires more cameras. The high school campuses have between 32 and 48 cameras each.

Video from each high school is fed to an onsite field command center. There, a district security official is assigned to monitor the cameras throughout the school day. Video from a high school's adjacent middle school is also monitored here. But, Borland says, there are plans to add an officer to each middle school to monitor video onsite.

The video system uses a mixture of fixed and pan/tilt/zoom (PTZ) cameras. Fixed cameras are used almost exclusively at elementary schools. There is a mix of the two types on the middle schools. All exterior cameras at high school campuses are PTZ.

The video is recorded on DVRs, which are kept in data closets on each campus. Video from all DVRs is sent via the district's Wide Area Network to a central security operations center, where security personnel also monitor it. All cameras and DVRs are from GE Security, Bradenton, Fla.

John Nowak, VTI's general manager, Colorado operations, says the project moved smoothly due to the coordination among school district officials, GE Security and VTI.

“This was an excellent partnership between the district, the integrator and the equipment manufacturer to find the most effective and cost-efficient solution to meet the needs at each school,” he says.

From his office, Borland can view the video to make informed decisions about alarm situations and other non-security events throughout the large 900-square-mile district.

VTI is still installing cameras on a regular basis on new campuses and on existing sites where problem areas are identified. Borland is looking toward making a transition to IP cameras and NVRs as the district moves forward with plans to upgrade its network.

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