‘How Safe Is Your Campus?’ Survey Results: Technology

Study shows that many campuses are still struggling with the quality, coverage and implementation of their video surveillance, access control, mass notification and emergency communications solutions.

November 10, 2010 Robin Hattersley

Note: This is the fourth installment of exclusive research featured in the Campus Safety Yearbook. Results will be released on CampusSafetyMagazine.com throughout the month of November.

Video surveillance, mass notification, access control and emergency communications interoperability continue to pose challenges for many campus safety protection professionals. These technologies brought out some of the strongest negative reactions from respondents to CS’ “How Safe Is Your Campus?” survey.

Half of university respondents and 42 percent of K-12 respondents express some or a strong degree of dissatisfaction with their security cameras. More than one in three hospital respondents (34 percent) say they disagree somewhat or strongly with the statement “I am satisfied with the quality and coverage of my campus’ video surveillance systems.” Nearly two in five K-12 and hospital respondents (40 percent and 39 percent respectively) indicate they are not happy with their mass notification systems.

All three types of respondents also express dissatisfaction with their campus access control. More than two in five universities (44 percent), 39 percent of K-12 schools/districts and 26 percent of hospitals say they disagree somewhat or strongly with the statement “I am satisfied with the quality and coverage of my campus’ access control system(s).” Emergency communications fare only slightly better: 36 percent of universities, 29 percent of K-12 schools/districts and 29 percent of hospitals say they are dissatisfied with the quality, coverage and interoperability of their emergency communications systems.

All three sectors also express concerns about the policies, protocols and training supporting their campus public safety and security technology.

The only technology that receives relatively high marks is fire safety. More than four in five hospital respondents (82 percent), 85 percent of K-12 respondents and 63 percent of college survey takers either agree somewhat or strongly with the statement “I am satisfied with the quality and coverage of my campus’ fire safety solution(s).”

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About the Author

Robin Hattersley, Editor-in-Chief

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Robin has been covering the security and campus law enforcement industries since 1998 and is a specialist in school, university and hospital security, public safety and emergency management, as well as emerging technologies and systems integration. She joined CS in 2005 and has authored award-winning editorial on campus law enforcement and security funding, officer recruitment and retention, access control, IP video, network integration, event management, crime trends, the Clery Act, Title IX compliance, sexual assault, dating abuse, emergency communications, incident management software and more. Robin has been featured on national and local media outlets and was formerly associate editor for the trade publication Security Sales & Integration. She obtained her undergraduate degree in history from California State University, Long Beach.