In this second installment of a three-part series of Q&As about school safety and security, DATIA K12 contributor Randall Dennis interviews Bruce Canal, CPP, Executive Lead for Education at Genetec. Canal draws on his experience in law enforcement and as Director of Security for Orange County Public Schools, as well as serving on the boards of the National Council for School Safety Directors, ASIS International’s School Safety and Security Council, PASS K-12 and ZeroNow.org. Canal is especially proud to serve on the ASIS International Foundation Board’s Scholarship Committee. Read part one of the series here.
Bruce Canal, CPP, is Executive Lead for Education at Genetec and has served in law enforcement and as Director of Security for Orange County Public Schools.Randall Dennis: In our first discussion we talked about the importance of a single point of entry strategy for securing school buildings. Let's talk about the role of artificial intelligence and analytics. AI is a hot topic, and a controversial one. Some fear the rise of AI and its implications.
Bruce Canal: AI is not to be feared, in my opinion. AI will only do what we tell it to do. And it can do many tasks better and more efficiently than a person could, and it can work 24/7/365.
For example, a school staff member can look out the window and identify that someone is approaching carrying a weapon. They could then immediately alert the authorities and start a lockdown procedure. That's an ideal response scenario. But unfortunately, you can’t have someone watching all day and be on the lookout all of the time.
John Randall Dennis is an ASIS ESRM Certified Security Risk Consultant and security advocate based in the Nashville, Tennessee area.Dennis: Not even school resource officers or security staff. I always describe video analytics as a thousand eyes and ears, seeing and listening 24/7/365.
Canal: So, if you have an analytic running through surveillance cameras that are looking at the main entrance, and every other entrance, then those analytics have the ability to identify a gun and raise an alarm.
It's just as good as a human at detecting firearms, but it is looking and never blinks and never takes a break. Humans simply can’t do that as efficiently as analytics can do it. I would add this: I am more in favor of gun detection analytic than gunshot analytics, for two reasons.
The first reason is that it’s proactive rather than reactive. There has to be a discharge of a firearm before gun detection analytics even knows there's an assailant. The second reason is that after an assailant discharges a firearm, they may start moving quickly to a different location. Which way did the assailant go? You won't know until the next discharge of the firearm.
You might be asking, where should we apply analytics if we have 250 cameras in a school? To answer that, ask yourself: where would a potential assailant have to go? Most likely, they would have to move through doorways. And so, I think all passageway door cameras should have gun detection on them.
Dennis: To be clear, analytics are licensed to each camera, and because of the cost, most users can’t afford to put analytics everywhere. But with key analytics locations in tandem with a great video management system, you can almost predict where an intruder or assailant is going. Analytics can also help our emergency response teams, by providing better data points directing them where to look, rather than sporadically going room to room.
Dennis: Another issue is the growing number of violent incidents are occurring in parking lots and in sports venues, outside school buildings.
Canal: Five years ago, this was not as big of an issue, but it has become rampant, especially in sports complexes. There are now more shootings outside the building than within the building. Yet, many incidents that start outside then come inside. I believe most of the sports complex incidents are what I call “impulsive actions,” when fans are upset at an official’s call on the field or they’re losing in a tight competition. Things can swiftly escalate to violence. That’s impulsive, unlike active premeditated assailants.
Dennis: So, in that scenario, how could analytics help?
Canal: Analytics can help see where groups of people are forming and growing. Cameras with analytics watching the parking lot can send a signal when they identify a group of 20 or more people have gathered, and are becoming agitated or a fight has started. A camera with analytics can send alerts along with the exact location. Response times can be radically reduced through technology.
A system could also identify if someone is loitering near a school door, which could signal intent for theft or violence. The system can flash a light for several minutes and then broadcast through a speaker, “You are trespassing, and the police have been summoned.” These are only a few examples of the capabilities.
Dennis: And all those parameters are programmable according to the school’s situation and preferences.
Canal: Right, you can program the system to do whatever you want it to. If a loiterer is told law enforcement has been notified, they won't come back. They're not going to test that limit. And if they do, the system can recognize that too.
The parameters set depend on the school, and we always confer with district leadership to determine their needs. An urban environment might want to use different parameters and settings than a rural or suburban setting.
This kind of object analytics can be directly on the cameras, or it can run on the video management system as well, depending on which kind of system you buy. Genetec's system offers all those kinds of capabilities. These are the issues you want to consider when you are looking at new solutions. Find out not just if a system has analytics, but what kind of analytics they offer.
John Randall Dennis is an ASIS ESRM Certified Security Risk Consultant and security advocate based in the Nashville, Tennessee area. He can be reached at: [email protected]
Bruce Canal, CPP, is Executive Lead for Education at Genetec and has served in law enforcement and as Director of Security for Orange County Public Schools.
John Randall Dennis is an ASIS ESRM Certified Security Risk Consultant and security advocate based in the Nashville, Tennessee area.
