California College Deploys HD Surveillance System For Campus-Wide Crime Prevention

Avigilon recently announced that Merced College in Merced, Calif. has deployed the Avigilon HD Surveillance System as part of its proactive crime prevention strategy to ensure the general welfare of staff and students on campus. By deploying the Avigilon HD Surveillance System with its advanced management features and superior image clarity, the College is able to leverage existing analog-based cameras to ease the transition from analog to HD performance as budget allows.

“A key differentiator of the Avigilon HD Surveillance System is the fact that it enables us to zoom in to examine specific details of an event while it is still recording, a feature we initially thought was too good to be true,” said Deputy Sheriff Wilde of the Merced College Police Department. “The Avigilon HD Surveillance System also delivers a major improvement in image clarity, resulting in more useable footage for greater conflict resolution. Overall, image clarity is one thousand times better than what we had before.”

Security officers at Merced College seamlessly manage the Avigilon HD Surveillance System using Avigilon Control Center NVMS with HD Stream Management. The College installed Avigilon 16 megapixel, 11 megapixel, and 5 megapixel HD cameras to monitor activity across both the Merced and Los Baños campuses, including several parking lots. Merced College also installed Avigilon analog video encoders to dramatically improve the performance of its existing analog cameras, which monitor the interior of several college buildings.

Since deploying the Avigilon HD Surveillance System, Merced College has successfully investigated and resolved numerous cases of crime, vandalism and assault on campus. In one case, they caught a perpetrator in the act of stealing trim off several parked vehicles, leading to a successful conviction. Because of Avigilon’s ease-of-use and powerful management tools, security staff can easily capture and review the detail needed to successfully resolve incidents and ultimately, reduce crime to create a safe and secure campus environment. 

“The need to ensure student safety and campus asset protection has increased dramatically,” said Alexander Fernandes, president and CEO at Avigilon. “By incorporating the Avigilon HD Surveillance System into its crime prevention strategy, Merced College has created a hybrid surveillance solution that cost-effectively helps to ensure campus security and delivers greater peace of mind to staff and students alike.”

Featured

  • Pragmatism, Productivity, and the Push for Accountability in 2025-2026

    Every year, the security industry debates whether artificial intelligence is a disruption, an enabler, or a distraction. By 2025, that conversation matured, where AI became a working dimension in physical identity and access management (PIAM) programs. Observations from 2025 highlight this turning point in AI’s role in access control and define how security leaders are being distinguished based on how they apply it. Read Now

  • Report: Cyber Attackers Continue to Turn to AI-Based Tools to Avoid Detection

    Comcast Business recently released its 2025 Cybersecurity Threat Report, a comprehensive analysis of 34.6 billion cybersecurity events detected between June 1,2024 and May 31, 2025. Now in its third year, the report offers business leaders a unique perspective into the evolving threat landscape and provides actionable insights to help organizations strengthen their defenses and align cybersecurity with business risk. Read Now

  • Axis Communications Creates AI-powered Video Surveillance Orchestra

    What if cameras could not only see the world, but interpret it—and respond like orchestra musicians reading sheet music: instantly, precisely, and in perfect harmony? That’s what global network technology leader Axis Communications set to find out. Read Now

  • Just as Expected

    GSX produced a wonderful tradeshow earlier this week. Monday was surprisingly strong in the morning, and the afternoon wasn’t bad at all. That’s Monday’s results and asking attendees to travel on Sunday. Just a quick hint, no one wants to give up their weekend to travel and set up an exhibit booth. I’m just saying. Read Now

    • Industry Events
    • GSX
  • NOLA: The Crescent City

    Twenty years later we finds ourselves in New Orleans. Twenty years ago the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina forced exhibitors and attendees to look elsewhere for tradeshow floor space. Read Now

    • Industry Events
    • GSX

New Products

  • EasyGate SPT and SPD

    EasyGate SPT SPD

    Security solutions do not have to be ordinary, let alone unattractive. Having renewed their best-selling speed gates, Cominfo has once again demonstrated their Art of Security philosophy in practice — and confirmed their position as an industry-leading manufacturers of premium speed gates and turnstiles.

  • A8V MIND

    A8V MIND

    Hexagon’s Geosystems presents a portable version of its Accur8vision detection system. A rugged all-in-one solution, the A8V MIND (Mobile Intrusion Detection) is designed to provide flexible protection of critical outdoor infrastructure and objects. Hexagon’s Accur8vision is a volumetric detection system that employs LiDAR technology to safeguard entire areas. Whenever it detects movement in a specified zone, it automatically differentiates a threat from a nonthreat, and immediately notifies security staff if necessary. Person detection is carried out within a radius of 80 meters from this device. Connected remotely via a portable computer device, it enables remote surveillance and does not depend on security staff patrolling the area.

  • Unified VMS

    AxxonSoft introduces version 2.0 of the Axxon One VMS. The new release features integrations with various physical security systems, making Axxon One a unified VMS. Other enhancements include new AI video analytics and intelligent search functions, hardened cybersecurity, usability and performance improvements, and expanded cloud capabilities