The district spent two years installing a 10 Gbit/s dark fiber network in its buildings, then began integrating Axis IP cameras (about 2,000 in total), along with the Axis Camera Station video management system, network intercoms, HALO smart sensors, etc. The district already had an OMNIA access control system in place.
review: HALO Smart Sensor 2C eradicates e-cigarette use in K-12.
“One of the big selling points is that Axis, HALO sensors and our access control all have open APIs and can work together,” says Renihan. “For example, vaping is an issue, but you can’t put a camera in the bathroom. But our sensors know what’s going on, and when an event is triggered we’ll put a camera on the bathroom door, or if the system senses that a school door is ajar.”
Each school has a server to store video in the district’s central data center, and feeds and alerts are available to authorized staff on any mobile device. The district maintains a VPN connection with local police, who can also access security footage. The solution also allows administrators to initiate lockdowns from their smartphones.
During one intruder drill, the system identified someone wearing a safety vest and notified the school of his location. “School security had electronic feedback and were on the scene within 45 seconds,” Lenihan says.
read more: Four Pillars of Physical Security Make Schools Safer.
Old and new technical support incident reports, alerts and responses
The North Little Rock School District created a similar private cloud network to manage security for its 15 campuses. The Arkansas school district has about 800 cameras from a variety of vendors, “a mix of old and new technology,” says Safety Services Director Heyward Finks, who worked in law enforcement for 33 years before joining the district.
“It’s impossible to monitor 800 cameras, so it was important to bring in new video management software,” Finks says. “Now, through AI, we can flag areas of concern, like where people appear to be congregating, and receive alerts on where we need to focus.”
