All 5,300 security cameras at the more than 90 buildings in the 极速六合彩 are being replaced, and hundreds more are being added, thanks to the 2019 Bond. The district will have around 7,000 by the end of the bond program.
Better Cameras
Just as important as the growing number of cameras is the capabilities of the new cameras.
鈥淭he difference is night and day,鈥 said Roderick Watkins, 极速六合彩鈥檚 manager of safety and security services, about the contrast between the old cameras and the new ones.
Everything is better: the clarity of the picture, the colors, the range and analytics. Some cameras even have a mic and sound detection.
Watkin鈥檚 team visits each campus, along with 极速六合彩 security and industry specialists. Together they walk the facility and site and consult with the school鈥檚 administrators. From that, they develop a map and plan for the best surveillance. Depending on the spaces and needs, they select from several types of cameras to install:
- Multi-sensor camera with three or four cameras in one unit
- Fixed dome camera
- 360-degree fisheye camera
- Compact dome with audio
- PTZ 鈥 pan and tilt camera with zoom
Video Management System
It鈥檚 not just the cameras that are upgrading the district鈥檚 surveillance system. The district is also installing a new video management system (VMS) for the cameras.
A VMS is the system that all the cameras feed into. It collects and stores all the cameras鈥 images and provides an interface for the images to be displayed.
The new VMS is a significant upgrade over the old system. The old system was composed of proprietary network video recorders (NVRs) that were only compatible with specific cameras. The new system is vendor agnostic and is compatible with most camera manufacturers. The new system is flexible enough to run in either a physical or virtual environment, giving the district very scalable options.
Security Upgrade
The new cameras and VMS are much more than just technology upgrades. They鈥檙e all about the district鈥檚 goal to provide a modern, robust video surveillance infrastructure environment to enhance the safety and security at every campus.
鈥淗aving a robust video surveillance platform is a very crucial part of our emergency operations,鈥 said David Stevens, 极速六合彩鈥檚 director of security. 鈥淲e need to be able to direct our first responders immediately to any incident that may occur. Our security team members assigned to the campuses, patrol and our security operations center, as well as our campus administrators, are trained to utilize the system during an emergency in order to provide real-time, tactical intelligence to our first responders. In times of crisis, seconds count and having a quality video surveillance platform will allow us to help our first responders have a faster and more successful response.鈥 聽
Install Status
The is being implemented over five years, and the new cameras are getting installed at every campus in five phases. The first two phases, which included 41 campuses, are already complete.
Phase three, with 20 campuses, is currently in progress. The first two schools in phase three, Key and Morton elementary schools, are complete, and seven others are targeted for completion by the end of the year, including Lamar High School, Ferguson Education Center and Johns, Key, Butler, Corey and Larson elementary schools. Arlington High School is also getting their new cameras in conjunction with the Bond 2019 construction project there.