Driven by heightened risk levels, school administrators are realizing the need to maintain high levels of situational awareness at all times across campuses and districts – leading to an increased number of surveillance systems at schools of all sizes across the nation.
It’s not just a matter of installing more cameras. It’s about cameras with diverse features and capabilities.
Built-in analytics can streamline forensic investigations and accurately track the volume of people entering or exiting buildings. Multi-sensor cameras can monitor and record several key areas with unique fields of view for each. Emerging cloud capabilities are enabling on-premise and remote surveillance capabilities.
Surveillance technology has changed dramatically over the last few years with new breakthroughs in digital imaging and optics, enhanced remote monitoring capabilities, and more efficient methods of data storage and bandwidth management. The continued evolution of new solutions combining AI with on-board audio and video analytics is resulting in highly accurate object detection and classification, with fewer false alarms, plus the benefit of actionable data that can drive intelligent monitoring for education facilities.
AI and Deep Learning algorithms are helping to detect and classify distinct objects (people, vehicles, faces and license plates) while clearly distinguishing them from their environmental surroundings. These “smart” technologies filter out irrelevant motion triggers to focus only on people, objects, and vehicles, and generate only the events users need to see for effective forensic searches and enhanced operational efficiency. They also minimize storage and bandwidth by not tracking and recording every type of object in motion.
This combination of IP cameras and analytics helps school administrators get a better handle on access control and monitoring of hallways, classrooms, and exterior parking lots. Knowing which doors visitors can use to access and exit a building is important when placing cameras. Advanced video analytics can be used as investigative tools in the event of a security incident and alert security when someone is trying to gain access to the premise. Cameras’ built-in analytics can also be used for people-counting to accurately track the volume of people entering or exiting a building, which helps administrators monitor their population on any given day against their attendance records.
Technologies like multi-directional intelligent cameras can help schools get more out of their tech spend. With one device through one data connection, a facility can monitor and record several key areas with unique fields of view for each, covering large areas more efficiently.
Having a reliable campus security camera system gives schools the ability to mitigate risk and be proactive instead of reactive when it comes to security. Maintaining a state-of-the art surveillance infrastructure can lead to significant improvement in operational performance with faster response times, enhanced situational awareness, a potential reduction in on-site incidents and more efficient allocation of staff and resources to match the unique needs of each school.
