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.
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