Education in the off season: Surveillance considerations

You may think of the school year as running from late summer or early Fall to the end of next year’s Spring. For security, it makes sense that security is a serious, ongoing concern for that stretch of time. Access to campus is carefully watched, by both humans and cameras. But the same school buildings that host a conventional student population for most of the year can have substantial need for summertime surveillance, even though they may be operating on a skeleton crew.

Many offer classrooms and other amenities that make them attractive as gathering spaces in the summertime. So while the regular student population may not be there, school buildings, athletic facilities, and other spaces may be actively utilized. 

Secondary school campuses may be in daily demand for community events, as academic testing centers, for athletic try-outs and competitions, or as the site of summer day camps. That means classrooms, auditoriums, sports fields, and gyms that are occupied and managed by an entirely different group of people than those responsible during the school year itself. 

College and university campuses may have more year-round faculty and researcher presence, but also typically feature a substantially different summer population, often including more adult education classes, residential camps, pre-college programs, and summer seminars.

Luckily, cameras don’t take a summer break, and year-round video surveillance can provide continuous, consistent security without requiring excessive on-site guard presence.

Summertime blues?

Custodial staff and teaching faculty may be absent or only occasionally on campus, but the same issues that make surveillance necessary during the regular school year may be there just the same. 

Trespassing

Especially when the school is mostly empty. A door propped open for convenience during an ongoing maintenance project, or windows open to help dry new paint, make it easy for curious trespassers to explore the school.

Vandalism

Buildings left emptier than usual invite mischief beyond just looking around. Graffiti and malicious property damage are an ongoing risk, and one incident, like one broken window, can make the campus attractive to more. That property damage – especially to doors and windows – can be expensive to fix, and create danger when the school year starts, too. 

Theft of equipment and supplies

From sports equipment to chemistry supplies, theft is a bigger risk when there are few visible deterrents. Audio-visual equipment and computers are easy targets for thieves if a school is easy to access and unwatched or seldom checked on.

Illegal dumping

Since schools often feature substantial disposal facilities for the school year, their dumpsters and trash cans are often the site of illegal dumping, including of hazardous materials that would be expensive to dispose of legitimately. Left alone, trash facilities left unattended and used without permission can also overflow, leading to rodent or insect infestation. 

Parking lot loitering

For teenagers, unattended school parking lots are often a convenient place to gather with little adult supervision, but those gatherings can come with trash and noise that make your campus less attractive for legitimate visitors.

It’s not just physical security

Modern surveillance systems, though, aren’t just about watching for security incidents. With strategically placed cameras, and especially augmented with additional sensors, the same system that can help you detect unwanted visitors in your hallways can also help you spot and address maintenance issues before they become expensive disasters. 

Some common problems are caused by high heat, summer rainstorms, or prolonged periods without equipment adjustment. Dried-out hoses and seals can lead to indoor flooding, and a malfunctioning HVAC system can cause cascading failures in electronics or power. Fences, lights, and landscaping issues are also easier to inspect virtually via video surveillance than with constant site visits.

Keeping your head about headcount

For most of the year, business parks, residential complexes, and retailers face some of the same challenges that schools do. What makes schools unique is an annual schedule that can lead to a wildly uneven security presence. It’s hard to foster an atmosphere of attention and safety for only 9 months of the year.

That’s why artificial intelligence and cloud access are important aspects of school security and can play a significant role during vacation periods. AI can help on one hand by drastically reducing the number of false alarms that a school premises might experience otherwise — and on the other by narrowing in on things that matter, like people and vehicles on premises when they shouldn’t be.

And cloud access, rather than strictly local surveillance, extends the reach of the people behind your security system. With remote monitoring services, you can put trained human eyes on the scene without needing to maintain a full staff on-site, and access every campus from a central location. Not every situation is worth escalating to law enforcement; sometimes simply using talk-down audio to warn trespassers away is enough.

Only 9 more shopping months until summer

If you’re responsible for safety in a school or similar environment, planning for the year to come is a necessity. As you evaluate your needs for the next 12 months, consider how the summer months affect your risks, liabilities, and headcounts. 

If you haven’t already, it’s a good time to consider moving to a surveillance system that acts as a proactive AI-powered safety and security system, not just a passive recording system. 

Want to learn more about what Eagle Eye Cloud VMS can do to keep your campus safe, all year round?

Timothy Lord

Timothy Lord has witnessed and written about IT security trends and the ongoing evolution of SaaS for more than 25 years.