Technology and School Security
Technology can mitigate risks without sacrificing student and staff privacy
- By Dan Quinn
- October 01, 2018
With 18 reported school shootings
since January 2018,
there has understandably
been a focus on keeping students
and staff safe.
While school shootings deserve the
thought and attention they are getting, school
districts also struggle with risks from violence,
unwanted individuals such as sex
offenders or suspended/expelled students or
fired employees. Unfortunately, there are also
financial risks from workers compensation
fraud and theft by staff.
Can technology mitigate these risks without
sacrificing student and staff privacy?
The Lockport City School District in Lockport,
NY thinks it can. And so does the nearby
Depew Union Free School District.
The Districts have invested in AEGIS a
security system from Canadian company SN
Technologies that utilizes three main elements
and processes matches at speeds up to
50 million images per second:
Sentry. A facial recognition/matching system
with proven accuracy rates of 99 percent
that is effective with all races. The system is
designed to have a human to verify a match
before any action is taken.
Protector. A gun recognition system that
will identify a gun-in-hand and that once
verified alerts are sent directly to all police for
action and response.
Mercury. A forensic search engine that
allows historical video to be quickly searched
unattended for specific faces saving time and
thousands of dollars in investigative work and
legal fees, providing information quicker and
determining outcomes more quickly.
“The AEGIS program will not retain any of
the security camera data unless an alert is
triggered, and only then data relevant to the
alert would be retained for a very limited
period of time,” Lockport’s Superintendent
Michelle Bradley said. “AEGIS is simply a tool
to better use security camera data to try to
prevent threats.
“A school is now a target, unfortunately.
Based on recommendations, things we saw,
drills we did, pilots we did, we assessed all of
that and we thought this was the best option,
economically and responsibly, for the safety of
our community. We pray that we never have to
deal with a school shooting but if this technology
saves one life, it will have been worth it”
Depew Superintendent Jeffrey Rabey said
he doesn’t have any concern about the system.
“It’s not like we’re following kids around
campus all day long,” Rabey said. “Schools
have had cameras and recording capability for
decades … all [AEGIS] does is enhance our
current system. It allows us to identify people
who should not be on campus.”
By law, there are no cameras in bathrooms,
change rooms or instructional spaces. In
terms of any further privacy concerns, individuals
that are entered into the AEGIS system
are only those individuals that the school
districts identify as not allowed. The system
resides within the firewall of the school district
and the district has full control over who
is entered into the system. Students will not
be identified by the system unless they are
disqualified from being on property or pose a
specific, verified threat
The technology was developed with the
guidance of Tony Olivo, a former U.S. Marshal
Criminal Investigator. Olivo’s firm Corporate
Screening & Investigations was so concerned
about School Safety that his firm
specializes in risk assessments for school districts
and he discovered this technology in
2012. His input impacted the final product
and system.
“There is no panacea for school shooting,”
Olivo said. “This technology is a supplement
to an overall School Safety Plan. Staff and students
still need to note and report anomalies
and unique behaviors. Access doors that are
locked during school hours are important elements
of the plan as are lockdown drills.”
The AEGIS system will be deployed in September
2018 at Lockport and shortly, thereafter
in Depew.
Not surprisingly, the system has created a
lot of interest and more than 20 school districts
in Western New York as well as schools
districts in other states have expressed interest
in acquiring the AEGIS system.
“We’re acting to ensure that we’re doing
everything we can to keep
our students and staff safe
as we always have,” Bradley
said.
This article originally appeared in the October 2018 issue of Campus Security Today.
About the Author
Dan Quinn is a Toronto based freelance writer.