NAPCO Security Technologies, Inc., a provider and manufacturer of high tech electronic intrusion security, IoT connected home, video and fire systems, as well as enterprise-class access control and door locking products, addressed the issue of safety on school campuses June 7.
News reports of efforts by students to protect themselves during the recent shooting at UCLA emphasize the need for updated security in schools, company officials say.
In the UCLA incident, students were improvising different ways to block doors that open outwardly due to fire codes in order to keep the shooter from gaining entry. The door handles were attached to belts and ropes and then tied to computer printers or other items. Recommendations of barricading doors were followed, but would provide little protection in securing an outwardly opening door. Many schools, including our largest universities, are not equipped with security products that can protect the students and faculty even though such technology exists.
NAPCO officials say their suite of systems can play a significant role in protecting educational institutions. Integrating and networking products from NAPCO Alarm Lock, Marks and Continental divisions enables users to wirelessly control access to (and within) schools, provide video monitoring as well as activate a lock-down in seconds.
To aid the School Safety vertical in augmenting security preparedness, NAPCO created a proprietary School Access-control Vulnerability Index, or SAVI, audit system. SAVI quantitatively measures a school’s security preparedness in the form of an index and takes an active approach in educating security dealers and end-user school officials about the systems needed to protect the lives of their educators and students.
While laws vary greatly across the country, more states are beginning to pass legislation with respect to school safety. In March, the State of Idaho passed the School Safety and Security Act of 2016. Earlier this year, voters in Albuquerque, New Mexico approved a bond offering which included $7 million earmarked for school security upgrades. In New York, a new law to go into effect July 1, 2016 will require mandatory lockdown drills. In the Detroit area, the Lake Shore Public School district has earmarked $9.3 million dollars of a $35 million bond offering toward upgrading school security.
NAPCO officials applauded the proactive steps that legislators are taking to protect our schools. Statistically, in the USA alone, there are over 100,000 K-12 schools and over 10,000 colleges and universities.
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