SONY'S NEW INTERNET BASED e-SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM BRINGS SCHOOL DISTRICT UNEXPECTED SECURITY BENEFITS
San Diego's Grossmont School District Is Reference Site for Sony's New IP-Based Security System
SAN DIEGO, Sept. 15, 2003 - For most schools, reports of campus shootings from across the country seem a distant nightmare. Sadly, that nightmare became a recurring reality at Grossmont Union School District, an 11 high school system with 24,000 students in San Diego County. In 2001, two separate shooting incidents happened back-to-back over a two-week period. That ended the notion that these troubles only happen elsewhere. It also started Grossmont's search for an economical way to protect their campuses. The district turned to Sony, a leader in audio-visual and security technologies.
This summer, Grossmont was the initial reference site for Sony's e-Surveillance system, which allows administrators and law enforcement officers to act on emergency situations in real-time with digital video surveillance over TCP/IP networks. Sony's solution consists of fixed and pan/tilt/zoom IP addressable cameras with built-in web servers and Ethernet ports, Sony Real Shot ™ camera recording and video management software, and network attached servers for storage and archival retrieval. The application software runs on a Cisco infrastructure.
Warren Williams, assistant superintendent for information and technology services for Grossmont, instantly liked what he saw.
For this pilot project, he outfitted two of the district's 11 campuses with the e-Surveillance system. Now, JPEG data files can be accessed, monitored, recorded and printed anywhere on the network by authorized personnel - crucial advantages during emergency situations or to help reconstruct events from archived material.
Just a few months into the system's operation, Williams saw far greater applications and opportunities than originally imagined. Besides fostering a safe learning environment for the district's students, he said that the Grossmont school district now reports that vandalism and inappropriate use of school facilities and resources has dropped significantly. Williams also said that cost savings from maintaining the physical plant along with insurance reductions have been some of the unexpected returns from the initial investment. à
Before the incidents at Grossmont, security on the campuses was handled by a local police patrol with officers assigned to cover different schools. But the incidents raised awareness to rethink the need for a security system.
"We understood that if we had been able to see the problem developing - people on the campus that shouldn't be - perhaps we could have done something. Perhaps we could have gone into an immediate lockdown," Williams said.
Once the crisis was underway, law enforcement officers were on their own.
"They had to go in SWAT fashion from hall to hall. They didn't know where the shooter was, how many there were. In a lockdown situation, it's very valuable to have that kind of information." After which, Williams added events had to be reconstructed from memory only. "It would have been helpful to have evidence of what had happened to design preventive measures."
As the search for a security system was underway, the district received a major grant to connect the schools with a Cisco Systems fiber optic IP infrastructure providing extensive bandwidth capacity across the entire system. Was there some way to utilize this resource for a security application? As it happened, the possibility for such an IP-based system existed. But an initial implementation did not fully realize the potential.
"Our first attempt was with a system that really wasn't ready for the IP infrastructure we had in place. Still, this showed us the potential. We continued our research and found that Sony had the ultimate solution, a perfect fit," said Williams.
Moving from Plan to Implementation
The power of the Sony e-Surveillance solution lies in its ability to deliver visual information wherever and whenever needed in real-time. The system's true utility begins with the automated ability to communicate alarm events. Motion sensor equipped cameras as well as other triggering criteria (e.g. access control) signal school officials on call. Then, authorized personnel can take control of the cameras to investigate the situation immediately from any networked computer. Wireless capabilities allow police patrol cars with laptop and/or handheld computers to continue to keep an eye on events while responding to the scene. All the while, the system records images on the secure, RAID redundant server.
"We can program the system to respond to alarm events numerous ways. It can send e-mail or call a cell phone," Williams said. "It would be impossible for anyone to monitor all the information coming through the cameras. But the system looks for what's important. Say the assistant principal is on call at home. If there's an alarm, they just dial in on a laptop to see what's going on."
Initially, plans for the pilot campus system for Grossmont consisted of four Sony SNC-RZ30N Pan/Tilt/Zoom network cameras connected to a Sony Network Attached Storage server running Sony's Real Shot camera manager application software over the Cisco Systems network. The system's 720 GB storage capacity holds approximately 30 days worth of archived images. But as soon as William's team began to appreciate the new possibilities the system afforded, additional cameras were added.
Williams noted that now, besides security functions, an additional camera can watch or even web cast sporting events at the school stadium. In time, the system may be used for educational purposes as well. Adding cameras to classrooms will let top teachers demonstrate best practices to their colleagues. It could also help in confronting students with discipline issues.
Next developments in the existing implementation include working closely with local police to deliver video information via wireless both to cruisers with laptops and to foot patrols with handheld computers, he stated. According to Williams, police are confident that the new tools give them what they need to address any future situation.
Saving Money with Security
"The system is essentially maintenance-free and training staff to use it is simple," Williams remarked. "The price of a single policeman or campus supervisor pays for the whole installation on a campus. The big difference is that those salaries are a recurring cost. Here, after the first year, you're saving money. At $55,000 per campus multiplied by our 11 campuses, we could see savings of better than half-a-million dollars annually."
Unexpected benefits have also surfaced. The school district is renegotiating with its insurance underwriters to reflect the changes brought by the new security system.
"We're a safer place now. That we are less likely to have damages, should be reflected in our premiums. This is another place where we're cutting overhead. The insurance savings will likely be significant, enough to justify costs," Williams said.
Williams remarked that typically, the introduction of a pilot system is followed by lengthy analysis and evaluation. Here, the system's success in providing security, plus the many value-adds has immediately won over the district's governing board, he noted. Williams said that the pressing issue isn't whether to extend the system district-wide. Instead, the question is how to allocate funding fast enough to get it in place immediately.
Creating a Different Tone on Campus
The arrival of the Sony e-Surveillance system at the Grossmont School District closes one chapter in the institution's history while opening a new one. Before, security was assumed. Discovering the reality that such assumptions are unfounded came with a high price. Now, the demonstrable value of e-Surveillance has restored confidence and will continue to provide the sense of security essential to maintaining a healthy learning environment.
