CCTV in education: an ongoing debate

When it comes to school security, it is absolutely paramount that no corners are cut in ensuring the best possible safety for students, staff and valuable school equipment. Today schools are taking active security measures to face up to the challenges of disruption caused by mindless vandalism, including damaging arson attacks, and criminals intent on stealing school property who will always look for the path of least resistance. One area of security that tends to be very useful within a school is that of CCTV.    

Remotely Monitored
Over the past decade, certainly where independent schools are concerned, we have witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of CCTV solutions that are being operated in an intelligent, proactive, way so that suspicious activity can be identified and tackled as it happens. At the forefront of this early intervention approach to surveillance has been BS8418-compliant remotely monitored, detector activated CCTV. With CCTV cameras and detectors deployed to protect the perimeter and other key areas of school grounds and buildings, especially at night - and linked by transmission equipment to a Remote Video Response Centre (RVRC) –intruders trying to gain access will be automatically picked up by one of the detectors and the images from an associated CCTV camera provided to the RVRC operators. At the RVRC, they can issue a verbal warning – ‘talking CCTV’ – to any intruders, which in more than 90 per cent of cases is sufficient to make them leave the scene. For more persistent individuals there is the potential for operators to alert school staff and the police. Having visually verified what is going on and using site plans, held by the RVRC, police officers can be directed to a specific area to help them make arrests.
    
We are also witnessing the deployment of compact digital mobile CCTV systems on dedicated school buses as well as across the wider public transport network. Used to ensure the safety of passengers and transport company employees, this technology has proved invaluable in tackling the disruptive behaviour of some pupils – for instance unauthorised pupils travelling to and from school – which can be a major issue for educational establishments, especially if they are in uniform. The key point here is that valuable evidence can be made available by the transport operator to schools and used to inform any discussions with the students concerned, and their parents, regarding disciplinary action.

CCTV in Classrooms
Another area where CCTV is being operated by schools is in the classroom. This is being set up in certain instances, with the support of staff, parents and students, to help to address issues such as bullying and to readily resolve allegations made by pupils against teachers in an informed way. There have been numerous debates about whether introducing CCTV into classrooms is ethical, however, there have sadly been high profile instances where a teacher’s integrity and career has been ruined by claims, which have subsequently proven to be malicious.
    
BBC research from September 2012 explored this issue further, and gathered opinions from one group who are particularly affected by school security – the students. One student commented: “We have CCTV cameras at our school in the outdoor areas which helps when it comes to fights.” This proves that CCTV is effective around other areas of the school more so then in a classroom. Some did claim that the CCTV did not prevent their valuables from being stolen, but others commented that it was useful in the prevention of bullying.  This research was met with a mixed reception, with the issue of privacy being a key issue, however, when placed in the right areas of a school such as a corridor or outside areas, CCTV can be extremely effective, and should not be dismissed by key decision makers.
    
With CCTV in place, there is much greater potential to use digital video evidence to resolve such situations and throw out false accusations before damage is caused to the reputation of the school and a specific teacher and also, crucially, to address legitimate incidents where further action may be necessary. Additionally, classroom CCTV can be a valuable tool in assisting with teacher training, enabling specific lessons to be reviewed - without the distraction of a teaching colleague in the classroom - and valuable feedback provided.

Video Analysis
Other ways that CCTV is being deployed proactively, and flexibly, to drive early intervention in educational establishments includes the adoption of VCA (Video Content Analysis). This is the intelligent analysis of CCTV images in a defined area to provide meaningful information. Typical uses range from identifying whether objects have been removed to the analysis of CCTV images to identify specific patterns, e.g. smoke. In the case of smoke this ability to take the images from CCTV cameras, and apply sophisticated algorithms to identify smoke patterns in seconds, allows action to be taken to address arson attacks – an ever present issue at schools – and, crucially, enables school authorities and firefighters to see the extent of any fire so it can be tackled safely. Alongside this, there is the potential with VCA to set up virtual tripwires so an alert can be provided should an individual seek to cross a specific boundary. For large scale school sites the application of a capability like a ‘virtual tripwire’ may be a cost effective approach to keep trespassers out of designated areas within the grounds, where it is simply not practical to have physical barriers such as walls or fencing in place.

Challenging the perception
There will continue to be a debate over whether CCTV is an effective measure of security in schools, the perception to most people is that CCTV in schools is an invasion of privacy to students and teachers as it is viewed as the ‘Big Brother’ effect.

Where younger students and minors are concerned, there is a fine line to consider in terms of the extent to which students can be monitored. Gaining the permission from both the students and the parents can also be a battle most schools will have to overcome. Having said that, a lot of parents and students are getting on board with the introduction of CCTV in schools, as research continues to show that not only has there been a decline in theft and crime, but has also helped to deter intruders from entering the school.

A decline in general bad behaviour around the school grounds has also been noted.

Economic Realities
Schools, like many organisations in these tougher economic times, are looking for a favourable return on their investment, so solutions which are likely to prove most attractive are those which can fit in readily with any existing infrastructure on a site. It may not, for example, be realistic to swap out all of a school’s existing CCTV system for new models or to upgrade the capacity of a school’s network for IP surveillance solutions. Given the pressures on funds we are seeing a focus from a CCTV standpoint on hybrid solutions with the dropping in of specialised encoders/decoders which are able to readily combine ‘legacy’ analogue equipment with new IP equipment to produce a seamless solution.
    
It is therefore incumbent on suppliers of CCTV solutions to schools that they are able to provide flexible solutions that take account of any infrastructure limitations. An example of this is the ability to cope with restrictions on the available bandwidth so the security solution does not impact negatively on the school’s network. One capability, which is extremely useful in this regard, is the adoption of methods so the size of the images being streamed across the network can be altered on-the-fly to tie-in with the available bandwidth, while high resolution – evidential quality images – are stored locally.

Sourcing a supplier
CCTV is increasingly being deployed by schools in a more proactive and intelligent way to provide a safe and secure environment for students and staff. Choosing a reputable supplier is essential to achieving effective security solutions. While it may be tempting, choosing a security company on the basis of cost alone can have some hefty repercussions. The best providers bring real insight, know-how and enthusiasm to their work, which ultimately translates into better security, the delivery of a solutions-led approach, and ultimately lower costs.

Further information
www.bsia.co.uk