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CCTV and school security

Conducting CCTV operator training for a prominent school recently highlighted for me a number of the issues and considerations relating to conducting CCTV within a school environment. It also uncomfortably raised how many potential issues there are with my own children going off to class each day.

A lthough school security is often talked about, the implementation of CCTV in a systematic and proactive way in this sector has been relatively rare. The need for a comprehensive risk analysis that could be applied to school security and integration of CCTV with this needs serious consideration. Fortunately the school I worked with had given some thought to this. From a sector point of view, there must be many aspects required with a school implementation strategy that could be common and relevant to most schools. Like any organisation, individual schools will have their own unique needs and solutions but can learn and apply principles from the sector in general.

Schools have seen a focus of attention in the last few years, but particularly in the last few months internationally. President Bush, for example, has just held a high profile summit on school violence in the US with a focus on preventing violence and coping with tragedy.

South Africa has been spared the incidents of school attacks such as those at Columbine and the Amish school recently (US), Dunblane (UK) or Ikeda (Japan) where multiple deaths of scholars have occurred. However, violence at schools and an increasing number of incidents of knifings or shootings have been reported over the past number of months at South African schools. While not exclusive to South Africa (a boy was stabbed to death at school during my visit to the UK in May), the rate and rise in such incidents here is major cause for concern. Since August 2006 there have been at least five stabbings resulting in deaths or hospitalisation at schools around the country. While such incidents are not common across all South African schools, issues of gangs and bullying are more typical and represent potential threats to the well-being of thousands of students on a daily basis.

Vandalism and destruction are also concerns with scenes on TV occasionally showing devastating destruction to schools and facilities around the country. This, once again, is not exclusive to South Africa. CCTV Image magazine in the UK ran a story on school security in the September edition where it reports that in the last three years, 15 000 incidents have been reported in London alone. The writers note that “problems of theft and damage are costing schools in the capital more than £73 million every year”. In

societies where crime and violence seem to be increasing in volume and severity every year, and social issues are constantly been highlighted, it is perhaps naïve to think that schools would be isolated from this.

Management of social issues

Schools import the social issues from the communities in which they are located, and things like drug abuse and dealing appear to make no distinction between rich and poor schools, with the problem being seen as critical across the educational sector. However, any decent parent and educator would stand for the right of children to learn in a supportive and threat free school environment. Management of schools and government departments involved in education bear a primary responsibility for ensuring this. It has been repeatedly shown that even in difficult communities, effective management by principals and staff of social issues have had major positive effects on students and the learning environment.

The school managers have a broad range of issues that they need to be aware of. The border between the school and the outside world, typically at the school gate, produces a range of potential incidents as sometimes the two worlds collide. The movement of the public within the school area needs to be monitored, with thieves taking advantage of school events and the concentration of people to commit crimes, while the school premises and the belongings of those in the school also need to be protected.

Sometimes, the threat comes from inside the school itself from learners or personnel and the protection of the internal community itself needs to be looked after. For schools with boarding houses, protection of the welfare of the boarders is critical as the school is seen in a parental role. This means safeguarding the premises from outside crime, as well as ensuring that rules and practices designed to protect the welfare of the students themselves are adhered to and respected in spirit and

practice.

Protection of school premises after hours is a major issue for most schools, and it appears that the potential for vandalism and break-ins is highest during this time. School events can therefore range from theft, assault, sexual harassment, abduction, antisocial activities, violations of the school code, damage to property, and substance abuse and dealing in drugs.

While the sensational events reflected in the media are likely to raise emotions and needs among parents and staff alike, most schools are unlikely to be dealing with such crises situations. School security and emergency handling policies and procedures should, however, address all potential occurrences.

Monitoring and safeguards

The role of CCTV in this school context has potential to fulfil roles in acting as a deterrent, proactive detection, collection of evidence, and overall monitoring function. CCTV can also act as a mediator between parent/school and even parent/parent disputes. Having cameras at school gates and access points immediately allows monitoring over the

potential issues that can occur there, as well as identifying vehicles and people coming into the school. Similarly, monitoring entrances to major buildings can pick up suspects potentially involved in theft of items from offices and classrooms such as notebooks, bags and cellphones.

Protection of parking areas and sports grounds can also play a part in reducing petty theft and where there are know syndicates or groups of suspects involved in stealing at other schools, these can be looked for and identified as part of the school's protection of members and visitors. CCTV surveillance can also monitor for anti-social activities or

violations of school rules on the playground, sports fields, or in the general school areas. The after-hours patrol of school grounds, particularly where there are late afternoon or evening activities or boarding houses, can reduce the potential for attacks and theft. Similarly patrols and motion detection alarms can identify trespassers and safeguard against damage to property, while viewing access points can identify issues related to movement in and out of school premises.

Monitoring other security methods is also possible through the CCTV operation and the overall effectiveness of the protection measures can be increased. Indeed, in my experience, CCTV can show up a number of limitations and weak points in the traditional security precautions.

Why CCTV?

Effective surveillance in schools needs operators who know the school conditions, people, culture and day-today dynamics, and most importantly, know what they are looking for. This means that school management needs a clear idea of why they want CCTV, what they want it for and the risk profile that they are wanting to address. CCTV forms part of the security solution and while it can complement and enhance physical measures, access control, or response functions, it cannot replace them. Operators also need to be thoroughly trained in the risk areas, what to look for, and how to recognise when problems occur. The closer the surveillance operation is to the school the better, with an on-site

surveillance control room with close liaison with physical security personnel being the preferred option for monitoring.

While remote monitoring is an option for school hours monitoring, it is unlikely to be as effective as onsite monitoring. After hours monitoring on the other hand can be shifted off site with remote surveillance more readily, as this effectively becomes a general monitoring and alarm function, particularly where linked to the school alarm systems.

Count the costs

CCTV can play an invaluable role for school security and safety at all hours, but costs may make a school fall back on traditional security measures. However, at least some kind of CCTV should be incorporated into the school access points as a minimum. Some schools may have vandalism and damage to property after hours as their major concern and where this is the case, remote surveillance, possibly with some kind of remote public announcement facilities on school grounds may be appropriate. For those schools wanting a more comprehensive solution, a full operational control room which includes communication with the physical protection personnel is the more appropriate solution. In all of these scenarios, school management needs to be closely involved in the design, operation, and reaction and investigation functions. School management also needs to be able to have access to the system at all times to enable them to both audit and keep up-to-date on school developments. This calls for supplies of CCTV solutions to facilitate such involvement as far as possible so as to arrive at the right kind of systems, and for school management to be appropriately informed. We all share in the duty to provide a supportive and safe school environment where children can learn. At the same time, the school needs to acknowledge potential ethical issues of monitoring premises full time. The considerable benefits of having CCTV needs to be balanced with responsibilities and respect for privacy for people at the school and all those who are likely to visit the premises.

Dr Craig Donald

Dr Craig Donald is a human factors specialist in security and CCTV. He is a director of Leaderware, which provides instruments for the selection of CCTV operators, X-ray screeners and other security personnel in major operations around the world. He also runs CCTV Surveillance Skills and Body Language, and Advanced Surveillance Body Language courses for CCTV operators, supervisors and managers internationally, and consults on CCTV management. He can be contacted on +27 (0) 11 787 7811 or [email protected]

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