Page 25 - Campus Security & Life Safety, July/August 2021

safety audits, school safety drills, school resource officers and weapons in schools. Its key takeaways:
• At least 43 states and the District of Colum-
bia require districts to have a school safety plan, many mandating the involvement of local law enforcement.
• About 13 states and the District of Colum- bia mandate safety audits at school facili- ties, some with the help of local law enforcement.
• At least 42 states require schools to conduct safety or security drills, such as active shooter, evacuation, lockdown and emer- gency response training.
• About 28 states and the District of Colum- bia require specific training for school resource officers either similar to law enforcement training or tailored to the school setting.
• At least 30 states and the District of Colum- bia allow school security staff, including school resource officers, to carry firearms in school. Some states allow other school employees or concealed carry permit hold- ers to carry firearms in schools. Other states allow local districts to decide if firearms are allowed in their schools in any capacity.
Defending the Perimeter with Audio
Whether security teams are required to have security technology and safety plans in place or not, pushing the perimeter further out is an effective method to mitigate school secu- rity risks.
It’s not a new concept. For example, at Metlife Stadium, home of the New York Jets and entertainment events, the perimeter begins at the stadium’s parking lot entrance, where larger vehicles that enter the Meadow- lands Sports Complex parking lots are well outside the visitor parking areas and away from the stadium. The ingress program includes a 40-foot standoff area for observa- tion of fans followed by inspection, including pat downs and/or baggage checks, all of which take place at the entrance to the sta- dium, prior to ticket scanning.
How can audio and HD voice play a role with perimeter security?
For instance, at a school entrance, video intercom solutions with HD voice can iden- tify parents and visitors, and help school staff and security teams quickly determine if the person should enter the school, or not.
Moving out to the school’s outer areas, PA speakers are easy to install and offer excellent two-way communications, in all conditions. School security teams, using video surveil- lance, can see a person trying to enter the school perimeter, and either determine, through audio, why they are there, or direct
Kinek00/Shutterstock.com
A modern videophone with a letterbox and a wireless card reader, mounted in panel fence with visible wicket.
them to leave.
Emergency stanchions, which are com-
monly used when an individual needs assis- tance or to help deter crime, don’t have to only be used for emergencies. They can be employed to provide a visual and audio indi- cator, to help security teams to identify visi- tors and vendors outside of a school’s entrances and exit points. They can also be employed within school parking lots, far from a school entrance and exit areas. Once activated by the user, campus security can pull up a video feed and see and hear who wants access to the school or approved visi- tors need information such as directions to another area of the campus.
At exterior fences and gates, which may still be on school property but a distance away from a school’s entrances, intercom solutions with HD audio can be mounted on the fence to help school security teams to identify persons, from a distance.
There are Numerous Benefits
The benefits of implementing these measures and extending the school security perimeter are numerous.
First, it means that your security solution is interactive. Security teams talk and listen to the person that’s seen on a video surveil- lance system, via the intercom, no matter where the location or where a person is on school grounds. A clear voice and sound clarify the intent behind the images that are captured on a camera and increases situa- tional awareness.
Audio can also detect voices, noises or other sounds that are not within direct view of a video camera. Those sounds can be ana- lyzed by a security team and action can be taken before the person gets to the school entrance and doors.
Adding audio to your strategy also means that a security officer and the person in front of the camera at the intercom, can interact, even when that person is at outer perimeters, which, if they have ill intent, is where you want them to stay until your security team can arrive on scene. That data, which goes beyond video surveillance images, can be shared between security, police, emergency services and more. Your security team is now providing first responders with actionable data for a more effective response to the inci- dent and a strategy to mitigate future inci- dents.
Every K-12 school security team faces increasingly complex threat environments. Increasingly, audio is the new value hub for K-12 schools, providing intelligence and communications and allowing people to the need to hear, be heard, and be understood in virtually any environment.
In today’s risk environment for schools, a silent security system cannot be an effective security system. Extending the perimeter by incorporating audio via intercom solutions can help security teams to stay well ahead of security and safety threats.
Dan Rothrock is the president of Zenitel Americas.
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