American Security Today September Digital Magazine September 2016 | Page 87

Volume 7 role in helping to accomplish that mission. But campus environments face unique surveillance challenges, and new technology combined with more rigorous expectations is testing the limits of traditional storage architectures. Like a small city, yet different Today’s college campuses bear a striking resemblance to small cities, resulting in some similar surveillance challenges. Yet campus environments are different. Like a city, campuses have many public-use areas and footpaths with people moving around all the time. September 2016 Edition The number of criminal offenses reported on college campuses has decreased steadily since 2005.2 Still, there were 49,870 criminal offenses reported on campuses in the U.S. in 2014 (the most current year for which data is available).3 High-profile active shooter situations such as those at Virginia Tech and Oregon’s Umpqua Community College have added to a heightened awareness of campus safety. While improving security on campus is a top priority, campus police departments and university officials are sensitive to student privacy and freedom and don’t want to create an environment that is perceived as being “over-policed.” More eyes and better visibility One way leaders are looking to improve security on campu s is through better video surveillance. They have installed more cameras to increase viewing coverage across campus, creating a “force multiplier” effect for campus police departments. Also, there are many buildings on campus spread out across a relatively large geographic area that need to be monitored around the clock. Adding to that, campuses grow and change over time with new buildings being constructed and older ones undergoing renovation. In addition, campuses are known to be gathering places for large numbers of people. Demonstrations, concerts, and sporting events are common and draw diverse crowds that must be monitored and protected while on campus. Events like these create a “burst motion” effect, similar to class change periods, where a large amount of activity and movement takes place suddenly and then quiets down. In addition, older analog cameras are being replaced with high resolution network units—the preference being 180/360 degree high-definition dome cameras—to improve overall image quality and detail, and to enhance performance in varying light and weather conditions. The push toward high definition network cameras is happening in every industry. However, the education sector as a whole leads other markets in the rate of adoption of network surveillance equipment. In fact, according to IHS, 50% of video surveillance cameras installed in the American and EMEA education markets are network cameras.4 Both the installation of more cameras and the transition to digital are creating the need for more storage capacity. How much more depends on a number of factors, including the number of cameras that are installed and the camera specifications. 87