Schools Turn to Audio Security
Teaming up with video surveillance can boost safety
- By Richard Brent
- Jul 01, 2014
An increased need for the
safety of students and staff
has caused school systems
around the United States to
examine their security equipment
and protocols. In doing
so, most schools are finding
that they need to enhance
their security efforts by leveraging
the dynamic duo of
video and audio surveillance.
Nowadays, video surveillance
is not enough, and many
schools are realizing the key
role audio plays in helping to
keep their students, staff and
campuses safe.
One school system in particular, Montgomery
County Public Schools (MCPS),
decided to re-examine their security needs
with its primary security integrator, NETCOM
Technologies in Rockville, Md. to
determine if any of their processes were
either outdated or could be enhanced. In
doing so, they identified a serious need to
better secure the main entrances of all 128
elementary schools in the system while also
maintaining parent and student traffic on
the campuses.
To begin improving MCPS’s security, NETCOM
first observed the technologies already
in place. After discovering that some of the
system’s existing technologies could be leveraged
and combined with new technologies, a
secure but cost-effective visitor control solution
was designed that ultimately gave the
schools, and its taxpayers, the best value for
their money while still ensuring the main
entrances of the elementary schools were
effectively and efficiently secured.
Specifically, NETCOM used the existing
CCTV and access control security technologies
already in place to design a visitor control
solution that would not only secure the egress
doors to the schools and allow for selected
visitor access through those doors, but also
provide a user-friendly security option for the
main office staff. In addition, NETCOM tapped
into an existing investment of the schools’ and
maximized the efficiencies of their IP megapixel
surveillance camera technology by integrating
a two-way audio monitoring product
from Louroe Electronics, the AOP-SP-PB.
The intercom door station with pushbutton
control is the main reason this visitor
control solution works so seamlessly. When
approaching the entrance of the facility, the
push button is used by a school visitor. The
button activates a pop-up window on the
school security video screen in the school’s
main office. That screen then provides a
visual identification using an IQinVision,
IP, megapixel camera running IQ Access
and audio communication via the Louroe
Two-Way Communication unit. Once the
visitor is identified and determined to be
acceptable and safe, the facility management/
security staff can then release the
door lock that is being secured by a Maxxess
netEdge unit, located inside the school near
the exterior door.
With growing concern about school safety
spreading across the nation, we will likely see
more schools nationwide opting to strengthen
their security. As professionals within this
industry, we must continue to leverage security
technologies and measurements already
in use by our clients while at the same time
work towards new developments
in security to
deliver value-added solutions
that delight our
customers.
This article originally appeared in the July 2014 issue of Security Today.
About the Author
Richard Brent is the CEO of Louroe Electronics.