Page 23 - Campus Security & Life Safety, July/August 2022

“Our approach to campus security is you can't do everything all at once. You have to build a system, and it takes quite a while if you want to do it right." — Mark Stout, Chief of Police, Putnam City School District
By Benjamin Brecht
Primary applications for the Hanwha Techwin cameras are exterior perimeter monitoring and general building protection, plus monitoring of main traffic areas includ- ing hallways or lounges. Stout noted that less is often more when it comes to security cam- era placement, and the built-in flexibility of the Hanwha models fit the bill exactly.
“Having the flexibility to choose from multi-view, 180-degree view, PTZ or even fisheye capabilities helps us complete our mission and adjust for each school,” he said.
For example, a camera like the Hanwha PNM-9000—a multi-view, two-lens cam- era—is an ideal option for effectively moni- toring busy areas (like hallway intersections) throughout Putnam City’s buildings without requiring obtrusive or conspicuous ceiling- mounted configurations.
“Being able to cover one large area with one multi-view camera instead of four not only helps us do our jobs more effectively, it also creates a more attractive and welcoming environment,” Stout said.
A Complete Solution
Camera performance is important, but advanced capabilities like AI, attribute detec- tion and intelligent analytics are the keys to building a total surveillance system.
Most conventional camera technologies detect motion based on pixel detection alone
and unnecessarily generate events that don’t require a user response.
The Hanwha Techwin AI-based cameras are delivering enhanced attribute detection and analytics combined with deep learning algorithms to counter any environmental factors—such as waving trees, shadows, or animals—that may trigger a false alarm. Now, campus security is only alerted about potentially suspicious or criminal events, reducing false alarms for more efficient oper- ations and targeted data gathering for use in forensic searches.
The cameras are set up to protect and monitor all parking lots used by staff and stu- dents, especially in the evening hours and overnight periods. Several district parking lots had been experiencing a rash of thefts and vehicle break-ins, and since the installa- tion of the high-performing Hanwha tech- nologies, the district has been able to reduce the rate of incidents to near zero.
“They had tried red beam detection and other methods to secure the parking area,” said Smith at Orion. “Working together, we came to the conclusion of using the new AI cameras’ human detection capabilities in those parking lots. We were able to cover each parking lot with three cameras, and
they have had no incidences of theft since.” The cameras’ built-in analytics are also used for people-counting to accurately track the volume of people entering or exiting a building, which helps building administra- tion monitor their population on any given
day against their attendance records.
The Hanwha analytics are even helping to strengthen district-wide public health and safety through the use of facemask-detection
applications.
A User-Connected Environment
The Putnam City School district operates a 24/7 Security Operations Center (SOC) and central command facility, tied by a local area network to each district site. Individual site monitoring can be performed by any officer or any school staff member through their desktop or an app on their mobile device.
The system’s flexible configuration allows school staff and administrators to easily track activity in their facility. Any authorized member can monitor an entire building, especially in areas where it’s not always pos- sible to have an officer present.
“If anything needs to escalate to a law- enforcement level, then they contact the offi- cer that's assigned to the school or our dis-
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