Powerful, Alert Management Solutions

If you had any doubt that hospitals, schools and universities have embraced video surveillance in a big way, the results from the 2016 Campus Safety Video Surveillance Survey should put those questions to rest. Of the more than 900 K-12, higher ed and healthcare protection pros surveyed, more than nine out of 10 say their campuses have installed some type of video surveillance equipment. Of those, 79 percent plan on buying more camera systems in the next three years.

And for the 9 percent of survey respondents who say their campuses don’t have security cameras installed, more than half plan on purchasing video surveillance technology in the next three years. The reason for this incredible rate of adoption might be due to the many successes campuses have experienced with their systems (see Security Cameras Get Glowing Reviews from Campus Users). Additionally, respondents now appear to be much more satisfied with the quality and coverage of their surveillance equipment than ever before.

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Most security professionals could give a list of initiatives they’d undertake to improve their institution’s security infrastructure in an ideal world. The problem is that some security upgrades are more attainable than others.

Everyone’s operating under budgetary restrictions, meaning security solutions that come at little to no cost are especially valuable to security professionals.

We’ve written about the costs of crime and the return on investment you can get with some security upgrades, but the easiest way to convince an executive that an upgrade is worth it is to pitch a project that requires little to no monetary investment.

There are no doubt some campus or department police chiefs that have all the resources they need at their disposal, but that’s not the reality most of our readers are operating in.

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Security may be the most fundamentally misunderstood discipline in American education. Few educators can define it, and fewer still can create a program that fully realizes its potential. Administrators see security programs as cost-centered expenditures that compete directly for scarce funding with the school’s primary mission: education. Properly designed security programs, however, can actually produce a generous return on investment (ROI) and become critical support for the school’s educational efforts.

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After Super Bowl 50, March Madness and with the 2016 presidential race continuing, event security is responsible for lots of sleepless nights among public safety officials these days. Whether or not your school, university or hospital ever hosts an event rising to the level of a National Special Security Event as designated by the Department of Homeland Security, today’s societal realities require increased diligence and smarter risk management.

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Legislation that would increase the safety of schools in light of the increasing incidents of active shooters has been approved by the Oklahoma House of Representatives.

House Bill 2931, would streamline and increase the flexibility of the school safety drill process, emphasizing active shooter drills. It would also add the Oklahoma School Security Institute to entities that would receive reports on the drills. A drill would be required within 15 days of the beginning of a school year.
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