Page 34 - College Planning & Management, May 2018

ELECTRONIC SECURITY ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES
Integrating Cards and Cameras
Security professionals recommend integrating access control systems with other campus security systems. “In my opinion, you must have a camera everywhere you place a card reader,” adds Shook. “That way you can spot check and even monitor use.
“For instance, a camera might show that Joe is using Jack’s card to get into a dorm. Cameras will also show doors that have been propped open as well as doors that are malfunctioning.”
Of course, cameras are expensive. But there is no need to buy cameras to monitor all locations at one time. Most facilities buy one camera now and another camera a few months or a year later, gradually building up to full coverage.
Managing Card Access Across Campus
A well-integrated access control system also enables effective access control management.
Robin Brown is director of electronic security at the Uni- versity of Colorado–Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. He manages security for buildings that make up six medical schools located on the university campus. Each school covers a different medical discipline.
He also manages security for the university’s several medical research buildings.
Brown designed the campus access control system from scratch. “I was hired when the campus was being built,” he says. “From
the beginning, the goal has been to protect people, property, and processes. Access control is an important part of that.”
Anschutz medical students need 24-hour-a-day access to cam- pus buildings. Brown designed the campus access control system to accommodate that.
“We’re a large 5,000,000-square-foot campus with many build- ings and many doors,” Brown says. “Our education buildings are unlocked during the day and locked in the evening. Our lab build- ings are also unlocked during the day, although the labs inside the lab buildings are locked.”
The campus has 100 unlocked doors during the day, and patients, visitors, and salespeople come and go, moving easily through public areas, continues Brown. Locked buildings include the mechanical buildings and buildings with biological, radiologi- cal, and chemical hazards.
Every building has access-controlled doors. During the day, badges are required to enter certain, but not all, buildings.
As of 6:00 p.m. every evening, all buildings lock down by way
of a software-controlled time table. Most perimeter doors are secured by the access control system. Those that aren’t included in the access control system are protected by alarms.
Overall, the system Brown has created manages over 100 dif- ferent faculty, administrative, and student clearances connected to exterior and interior doors across campus.
“Our safety staff includes sworn police officers and security officers,” Brown says. “If there is an emergency—an active shooter, for instance—and one of our police or security officers calls for a lockdown, we can lock down the entire campus in one second by hitting a single button. Our dispatchers handle such lockdowns.”
Managing Visitors
Most enterprise-class access control systems have a visitor management component, notes Stantec’s Shook. “You may have to buy a software license to activate the visitor management capabili- ties,” he says.
Usually, these systems feature stations that enable visitors to key in their own information. In response, the station prints out a badge. Different systems ask for a little or a lot of information from visitors, depending on needs. Some systems have web cameras that will print photo ID tags and even access control badges—all without an attendant.
Given the potential for violence in today’s world, colleges and universities—as well as other locations where diverse people gather—can use modern access control and visitor management systems to help improve safety and security. CPM
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