For school administrators and security teams, enhanced situational awareness is vital to helping ensure the safety and security of education facilities. Security cameras for schools, or CCTV cameras for schools, can help administrators and security teams achieve this. Therefore, it’s not a surprise that between 2009-10 to 2019 – 20, the percentage of public schools reporting the use of CCTV cameras in schools grew from 61% to 91%, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. With this technology, schools and college campuses can:

Detect unfolding incidents and emergencies – Installing school security cameras at strategic locations will provide maximum awareness. Key areas include IP security cameras in school classrooms, libraries, entrances, hallways, stairwells, parking lots and faculty rooms. This gives school security camera system operators better visibility over areas where incidents and emergencies are most likely, enabling improved focus and faster response. From detecting escalating tensions within a group of students to spotting a potential fire hazard, security cameras in schools, including security cameras in classrooms, can provide users with a view of what’s happening without being there physically.

Deter bad behavior and illegal activities – The simple presence of security cameras in school classrooms, hallways, cafeterias, and outdoor grounds has proven to deter bad student behavior and criminal activities, whether that be bullying, theft or vandalism. According to a piece of Campus Safety Report, nearly one in three respondents to their 2020 survey (31%) stated that their school security camera systems frequently prevent crime.

Capture evidentiary footage – In the event of an incident, school CCTV cameras can capture school security camera footage that can be used for evidentiary purposes by the administrators, school security team or local law enforcement. School security camera system footage of incidents and emergencies can also be used to better train individuals and teams to ensure there’s no repeat of the incident and improve future response efforts.

Enhance awareness in schools with video analytics

In recent years, campus security technology like security camera technology has taken great strides to provide further features that can support the operator in enhancing the safety and security of their facilities, with video analytics being one of the most important advancements. Video analytics technology for education and schools can extend the security team’s capabilities by automatically alerting operators of potential incidents within their facility, allowing them to respond in real-time to events. These analytics include:

Detect unusual motion – Unusual motion technology within school security cameras learn what a typical scene looks like. It then detects and flags unusual motion that deviates from the norm to the operator via an AI video management software. An example of this could be the movement of an intruder on school property outside of school hours in a school security camera scene.

Detect unusual activity – Unusual activity technology detects atypical activities within a camera scene and alerts operators. An example of this type of video analytics for schools and educational facilities in action could be a speeding vehicle in the campus parking lot or an individual climbing the school’s perimeter fence.

Read vehicular information – This type of video analytics automatically reads vehicular information and links it to live and recorded video. In the event of an incident involving a vehicle, security operators can search for this vehicle’s information and quickly find school security camera footage relating to it for verification and investigation. On some advanced school security camera systems, operators can be alerted to banned vehicles entering their grounds.

Benefits of using security cameras and CCTV in schools

Increased situational awareness and faster incident response

Utilizing school funding and grants for school security cameras can help provide the security team with a view of the activities taking place within their educational facilities. Without having to physically be there, the school security camera system operator can detect when a potential incident may be unfolding and provide vital information to the security team for an informed response. With video analytics-enabled security cameras in a school, the operator can be automatically alerted to an incident allowing for faster incident response.

Improved student behavior

The presence of school cameras has been proven to improve the behavior of students on school property. With security cameras for schools installed, students think twice before bullying their peers, instigating arguments or fights and damaging school property as well as other activities.

Deter criminal activities

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, during the 2019 – 24 school year, a lot of public schools recorded that one or more incidents of crime had taken place. . Deterring crime should therefore be a key focus for school administrators and this is where CCTV for schools comes in. As pointed out earlier in this guide, CCTV cameras in schools, as well as cameras located along the school perimeter, can prove to be a strong visual deterrent for crime. Well-placed school security cameras help prevent theft, vandalism, antisocial behavior or other illegal activities as people know their activities and identity could be captured in live and recorded footage.

Capture evidentiary footage

With school cameras installed at strategic checkpoints, whether that’s along the perimeter line, along a hallway in a faculty building, or via a stop arm camera on a school bus, footage of incidents and emergencies can be captured and stored within the school security camera system. This footage from security cameras in school can then be assessed to analyze what happened, identify the perpetrators involved and recreate the timeline of events. This can prove to be crucial in solving investigations both for the school security team and, if applicable, local law enforcement. School security camera footage can also be used for training purposes, especially when it comes to emergency preparedness and incident response workflows.

Provides visual verification for access activities

The best security cameras for school integrate with existing access control systems to provide enhanced security. As a result, the security team can view real-time footage from security cameras in school to assess if the individual requesting access is authorized to enter the facility and is not an intruder using someone else’s access credentials fraudulently. All access activity and linked school CCTV footage are recorded on the activity log for reporting and investigatory purposes.