Often influenced by significant security events on K-12 or higher education campuses, various compliance requirements have been implemented for schools when it comes to different security systems. As a result, many have purchased and installed disparate systems that continue to be costly and are difficult to expand upon.
History has shown that a unified security system better protects students, personnel, and visitors. Employees are able to respond to emergencies quicker and earlier, and two technologies should be the cornerstones of a unified system.
“It’s K-12 and it’s higher education, it’s the public institutions, the private institutions, the tech schools, you name it — the baseline is really video and access control,” Jason Friedberg, Commercial Head for Education at Genetec, told Campus Safety. “If we look at those and sort of the physical security standards of concentric circles, we’re going to start with the sanctum sanctorum: the doors of the school or the doors of the building in your campus as the start and electronic access control is really the key for that. The video is another important layer because it now lets us look outside of that building. It lets us look at the parking lots, the ways that people are coming and going, to get an idea for the life of that campus so we’re now being able to see what’s going on before they get to that door.”
One benefit to implementing a unified security system is that it is written in the same code.
“When they go to do updates, it updates the whole system — nothing breaks,” said Friedberg. “Those customizations that get [disparate systems] to work and talk together on a standard PSIM don’t work when you update one side and not the other.”
A unified system also minimizes staff training and onboarding.
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Amy Rock Editorial, LLC 