School and Campus Public Safety

Hazard High School Implements Digital Video Surveillance Technology to Improve Safety and Emergency Response Time

Hazard High School in Hazard, KY is a public facility hosting three hundred students in grades 9-12. The facility had been outfitted with eight CCTV cameras that monitored activity throughout the property, but even with someone monitoring the cameras at all times, incidents would often go unnoticed until after they occurred. In order to gather data that might provide details of the events surrounding a crisis, officials would spend countless hours reviewing the recordings on the VHS tapes. Even when the cameras caught an incident in its field of view, the picture only offered a grainy resolution, sometimes making the identification of a perpetrator difficult.

high_school_security_surveillance

Hazard High officials sought a program that would provide a safer learning environment for the students so they applied for and received grant funding from the Rural Law Enforcement Technology Center (RULETC), a division of the National Institute of Justice. After researching a myriad of options, they selected TrueSentry intelligent digital video surveillance system.

High School IP Video Surveillance Solution

TrueSentry allows school officials to more readily detect potential risks and threats and respond to them promptly. The cameras are set up to recognize a variety of pre-defined behaviors that can indicate threatening situations, such as someone loitering, entering a restricted area, or extended physical contact between multiple people.

The system then triggers an audible and visual warning to staff viewing the cameras, drawing their attention to the violation. The system simultaneously uploads the recording to a central incident video database, providing backup of any important event caught on camera. The principal and other key staff are immediately notified by phone, pager, SMS or email. Authorized personnel can view the live video from any of the school cameras and access footage of the incident through any web browser.

high_school_video_surveillance

The surveillance system is also linked to the City of Hazard’s 9-1-1 center which allows the school to deliver video from the cameras directly to the dispatcher and first responders. Emergency response teams can also access the live camera feeds remotely giving them an up to the second view of the current situation.

"The new system provides more coverage, removing ‘blind spots’ and problem areas not visible with our previous system. I also appreciate the fact that I can access the cameras and incident video when I’m off campus,” said Donald Mobelini, principal of Hazard High School.

The significant advances in surveillance technology have created a safer learning environment for students and faculty. With the instant notification system, and the automatic link to the City of Hazard emergency dispatch facility, the school is prepared to handle emergency situations as quickly and efficiently as possible.

"Our mission is to provide small, rural law enforcement teams with the information and technology they need to be more responsive to emergencies and security threats. Our expectation is that this project will serve as the national model for school security,” said Rod Maggard, director of the Rural Law Enforcement Technology Center (RULETC).