Virginia Western Community College Chief of Police, Craig Harris, is always looking for ways to improve safety and security on campus. Like many educational institutions around the country, Harris thought it was essential to retool his campus’s public safety plans after the tragic events at Virginia Tech.
The University of Miami, a private research university with more than 15,000 students in Coral Gables, Florida, had maintained a video surveillance system for a number of years, but many disparate systems made it difficult for campus police to monitor and investigate incidents.
The Union Gap School District in Union Gap, Wash., uses EasyLobby visitor management software to protect students from unwanted guests. One primary reason the Union Gap School District installed EasyLobby was to alert lobby attendants to any visitor on each state’s sex offender database.
Portable steel security buildings and security booths from Par-Kut International provide part time or permanent shelter for parking lot surveillance, ticket sale booths or entry checkpoints at stadiums and arenas.
Southampton School District (SHSD) is nestled in the beach village of Southampton, New York. As part of the summer colony known as The Hamptons, it has a mix of middle-income neighborhoods, rural farms, and an affluent estate section.
Over the past decade, I have had the opportunity to lead Stanley Convergent Security Solutions’ Software Solutions Group (SSG); a team of Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco and security product certified professional support engineers with an amazing level of expertise in security system design, installation and support.
An open environment, challenges with funding and many constituents to please: campus security directors and integrators share their challenges with securing these “communities within a community.”
They say that these are the “greatest years” of someone’s life. The college years, the time to figure out a career, make friends and use the valuable time and experiences as the launching pad in which one can continue those “great” years in their 20s, 30s and beyond.
The world of K-12 education brings to mind the archetypal images of playgrounds and lunchboxes, marching bands and football games. But clearly the “dear old golden rule days” of school have not been immune to pressures that are giving security directors greater concern and increased responsibility, even at the lower grade levels.