Monumental Security
North American university finds success with major security overhaul
With a larger student population than any other university in
North America and more than 200 facilities spread across
three campuses, the University of Toronto is a vast and diverse
institution, rich in history and culture. In addition to
being internationally known and recognized for its research
and teaching, the university is now a model of security, thanks to careful, coordinated
planning and integrated technology.
Protecting a single building and its occupants is never an easy task, so for the
university, improving security was a significant challenge. With nearly 12 million
square feet of space, it had a lot of ground to cover. Plus, the volume of people created
an extra layer of complexity: The university serves more than 70,000 students
and has nearly 14,000 faculty and staff members. About 50,000 students attend
the St. George campus, the university’s main campus, in downtown Toronto. The
university also has locations in Mississauga and Scarborough.
Besides its notable size, the university has many historic buildings that provide
a monument to the university’s past, dating back to the 1820s. University efforts
have helped preserve the aged and artistic quality of campus buildings, but until
recently, the security systems on the campuses also were firmly rooted in the past.
A Patchwork Approach
For years, individual buildings and university departments each took a different
path when it came to security, creating a disparate, difficult-to-manage environment.
The only semblance of a campuswide system consisted of a small number
of alarms running on a copper wire back to the university police station. Otherwise,
buildings and departments forged their own way, leaving campus police
completely disconnected.
“The previous measures were rudimentary at best,” said Dan Hutt, manager
of campus police services at the University of Toronto. “We had a decentralized
security operation, with everyone doing what they felt they should. And those efforts
didn’t always sync up.”
One of the primary problems with this approach was the number of alarm
companies involved on the campus -- each with its own nuances. When it came to
response time, for example, the standards varied from company to company. While
one vendor might respond within an hour, others could take as long as four hours.
And the alarms that did reach university police came with little information about
source and cause. As a result, all alarms warranted a critical response and, many
times, valuable police resources were wasted.
“Reacting to all alarms blindly is not
an efficient way to manage campus security
and ensure safety,” Hutt said. “We
needed a common security platform and
process for responding to and maintaining
alarms and security equipment.”
A Major Overhaul
The inefficiencies culminated in a security
overhaul, which began in 2002.
Sparked by both the police department’s
move to a newer building and
a collective desire within the university
to update its parking-garage monitoring
system, the university investigated
its options surrounding a security
upgrade. The police department also
helped the university usher in a new era
of security on its campuses, as it sought
to establish a centralized monitoring
system in place of the previous localized
methods.
The university chose to make the
change with Honeywell -- for one-third
the cost of replacing the hardwired
points of its old system and then gradually
upgrading over time. The project
centered on creating a more uniform
approach to safety and security. To
this end, the university installed the
Honeywell Enterprise Buildings Integrator --
a platform that integrates core
building functions, including security,
surveillance, life safety, HVAC, lighting
and energy -- for simplified monitoring
from a single location. EBI serves as the
backbone of the new security system
and is managed by the police services
department, with the department’s new
central station on the St. George campus
serving as the technology hub.
As part of the revamp, the university
also installed Honeywell Digital Video
Manager, a digital surveillance system
and component of the EBI platform.
DVM helped the university achieve its
original goal for the parking garage --
converting analog camera signals to
digital feeds, and eliminating the need
for time-consuming and cumbersome
video tapes. And because of the initial
success with DVM, the system now includes
more than 155 cameras spread
across the St. George campus, with an
additional 50 cameras in buildings on
the university’s Scarborough campus.
In addition to DVM, the integrated
security system includes approximately
550 card readers that regulate entry
into specific areas on the St. George
and Scarborough campuses. The readers
are integrated with DVM and tied
into EBI, serving as “trigger points”
for alarms and surveillance updates.
When an alarm goes off, for example,
the system brings up live video of the
specific location, including floor plans
and maps, which allows campus police
to quickly isolate sources of alarms and
respond to issues faster and with the
appropriate staff.
Unlike the previous technology jumble,
this system allows university police
to view and manage all alarm signals
internally. In addition, it has helped the
university -- specifically Hutt and his
police colleagues -- achieve an optimal
mix of proactive and reactive security
measures, reducing response time from
hours to minutes.
“We’ve gone from simply monitoring
surveillance systems to having a
very sophisticated and smart security
system,” Hutt said.
The new system also provides the
flexibility and specificity required to
match the needs of different parts of the campus. For some buildings, access
control is primarily used to monitor
after-hours access only, and the facilities
otherwise remain unlocked during
normal operating hours. Conversely,
campus labs and other facilities with
expensive equipment require higher levels
of security and have more stringent
access guidelines and control measures.
While campus dormitories currently
do not fall under the scope of the access
control system, the university may
bring the entrance doors onto the system
in the future -- a simple task given
the flexibility of EBI. Another benefit:
The smart access cards can be programmed
to fit varying security credentials,
as broad or granular as necessary.
An Essential Service
In addition to a more unified security
platform, the university benefits
from comprehensive service coverage.
As part of the coverage, the company
has three onsite technicians at the St.
George campus and one technician
working full-time at the Scarborough
campus. The technicians monitor and
maintain the EBI, DVM and access
control systems around the clock, and
they make sure all the equipment is up
to date with the latest software patches
and technology enhancements.
“Honeywell handles all installations
and commissioning,” Hutt said, “and
when warranties run out, the company
provides ongoing maintenance. We know
they’ll keep everything functioning.”
Along with keeping systems up
and running, the service agreement
has helped save valuable administrative
time and resources. Specifically,
working to manage multiple systems
and tasks under one comprehensive
contract has enabled the university to
reduce paperwork significantly, including
purchase orders and invoices. The
coverage also saves time previously
spent obtaining quotes for upgrades
and repairs, which often slowed work
that needed to be done.
With the agreement, the university
faces greater cost certainty as well, because
all labor and materials -- including
unexpected and emergency work --
are covered. The entire service process
now runs smoothly and with less administrative
hassle.
A Path Forward
Currently, 40 percent of the University
of Toronto facilities are on the Honeywell
platform. All new construction
and major renovation work includes
the installation of additional cameras
and card readers. And the university
plans to incorporate all existing buildings
onto the security system eventually --
a task that will occur as funds become
available, according to Hutt.
“We’ve made significant strides in
modernizing security, and we plan to
continue moving based on the results,”
he said.
This article originally appeared in the June 2011 issue of Security Today.