Number of cameras
and closed-circuit
TV monitors
connected to the
security network
at Baltimore City
Community College.
efficiently harness data from social
networks. Until such a time, he says,
he would be “hard pressed to use it”
as a core piece of any campus security
operation.
Harder for Community Colleges
Community college administrators say
they’ll take help any way they can get
it. Unlike their four-year counterparts,
which have the luxury of a traditional
student profile, community colleges
serve a more diverse and potentially
unpredictable student population.
Winkler, who heads the BCCC
security effort in a crime-ridden area of
inner-city Baltimore, says monitoring
crime on and around campus is a big
part of the job.
“You would be shocked to see the
crime statistics that exist around this
college; we are like an island in the
midst of it,” he says.
The circumstances require that the
college be proactive, not reactive, in its
approach to campus security. And that
includes the use of technology.
For example, BCCC uses an Emergency Notification System (ENS) that
enables its security department to
broadcast emergency messages to cell
phones as calls or text messages and to
blast messages onto computer screens
connected to the campus network.
The college also maintains 200
surveillance cameras and closed-circuit
TV systems that feed into a 24-hour
command center.
“We’ve had suspicious individuals
come on campus and we’ve been able to
Getting Started Must-haves for any campus safety program If you had to start tomorrow and launch a community college security and public safety department, what technologies would be essential? Jason Friedberg, chair of the International Association of Campus Law Enforce- ment Administrators’ (IACLEA’s) Security Technology Committee and chief of the Department of Public Safety at Bucknell University, names several. For starters, the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 mandates some form of emergency notification system (ENS). Beyond an ENS, Friedberg says community colleges should view security in concentric circles, with access control and authentication as two big, related areas. An access control system, for example, could be placed on perimeter doors for all buildings. It could also be installed on so-called “threshold areas,” or places that maintain sensitive or important data, such as in the human resources department or technology center. Next up: some form of video security management system—to place eyes in places that cannot be watched all the time. Finally, Friedberg says, he would install a network of strategically placed emergency phones. Though most organizations recognize their responsibility to notify students and staff about on-campus incidents and emergencies, some might be less familiar with the various “tiers of notification.” Source: Visium Global, LLC, a higher education security consulting firm. > > 200
Tier 1 — Wide-Area Notification
Tier 3 — Public Alerting
• Immediate & intrusive
• AM/FM radio broadcasts
• Sirens/enunciators
º Indoor
º Outdoor loudspeakers (HPSA)
• TV broadcasts
º Satellite
º On and off air
• Fire voice evacuation
• Location-specific
• Electronic signage
• Text messages
Tier 2 — Personal Alerting
Tier 4 — Locally Relevant Alerting
• SMS text (cell phones)
• Bullhorns—handheld or vehicle-borne
• Computer pop-ups
• Two-way radios
• Tone alert radios
• Radio cell phones
• Email alerts/broadcasts (Web-based)
• Automated voice dialing and text
messaging
