PHILADELPHIA — Internal safety audits conducted in Philadelphia public schools suggest that school security cameras are not monitored regularly — or at all — and there are not enough staff trained to use them.
From December to March, the district conducted safety inspections at 46 schools; 19 of those schools were found to be “persistently dangerous” by the state, the Times Union reports. In addition, 31 schools received a red or yellow rating in at least one of six areas of inspection, including whether cameras were being operated or being monitored by appropriate personnel, as well as whether they covered key areas such as hallways and parking lots, and whether they produced clear images and whether the images were captured for further review.
Ronald Stephens, the executive director of the National School Safety Center in California, told the news source that the district took on a greater sense of liability by installing the cameras if people think they are being monitored while they are not.
Two buildings were graded red in every category. Evaluators said cameras in one of the buildings had not been operated in two years.
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