It’s safe to say that security technology plays a massive role in campus safety and is likely to continue to do so for the foreseeable future. However, having multiple security technologies in place that don’t communicate with each other can put a significant strain on already limited resources. That’s where a unified platform comes into play.
At the Campus Safety Conference (CSC) at EDspaces, we had to opportunity to speak with Genetec’s Jason Friedberg, Commercial Lead, Cities and Public Sector, about why he believes a unified platform for technology such as access control, video surveillance, and emergency notifications, is essential to ensuring students and staff are safe when on campus.
“Automation is a really big piece. It’s important to understand that the dispatcher can’t do everything. They need to have all of these pieces together and be able to work automatically,” said Friedberg. “When an incident happens, whether its a chemical leak or a shooting, they don’t have to follow 18 steps. They can hit a button that’s already been prescribed or worked through, and now they’re able to automatically sound out that emergency notification [or] automatically lock down the campus.”
While automating security has many benefits, including economy of scale and decreased total cost of ownership, Friedberg said it is also essential that colleges and K-12 schools have robust policies in place to support these technologies.
“Having policies where when a door is propped, make sure it’s dealt with immediately,” he emphasized. “If people continue to do it, have interventions in place to get away from that.”
Check out the full video interview to hear more.
In addition to being the Day 2 keynote sponsor at CSC at EDspaces, Genetec is also a sponsor of our upcoming Campus Safety Online Summit, happening Dec. 8-9. This 2-day virtual event covers topics concerning lessons learned from COVID-19 and the re-opening of campuses, Clery and Title IX updates, changes to school and campus policing, new technologies and more.
