Schools are intended to be safe, secure havens of educational opportunity for children of all ages. Unfortunately, as we have all seen played out through the media, those hallowed halls and grounds can sometimes become the site of violent incidents that lead to injury and even death. Thus, finding a means to protect and safeguard students, teachers and other authorized individuals has become a focal point for school officials and parents.
In particular, since 9/11, an enormous amount of time, energy and money has been expended within the public sector to reduce the likelihood of violence in public schools. Statistics show these efforts have paid off. For example, in 1998 there were more than 2.7 million criminal acts performed on school property across the nation, but by 2000 that number was more than cut in half to 1.2 million.
Despite this overall decline in campus crime, the magnitude of some of the incidents that do occur — such as Columbine and Virginia Tech — is on the rise. And there’s no magic wand that can be waived to eliminate such tragedies; even professionally trained campus security personnel can’t be everywhere at all times. But with research, planning, hard work and the assistance of modern technology, the odds can at least be balanced in a given learning institution’s favor.
As Jackson High School of Stark County (Ohio) discovered, this is where network-based video surveillance and access control systems come into play.
