NCJ Number
200083
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 70 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2003 Pages: 18-20
Date Published
April 2003
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article describes various types of technology that can enhance school security, including a system already in place for Broward County schools (Florida).
Abstract
The Broward County Sheriff's Office's Safe School Initiative features a computer program that contains school floor plans, aerial photographs, pertinent data, and images of the interiors and exteriors of schools. The program was created with Adobe Acrobat software and could be replicated by any law enforcement agency. The user-friendly configuration of this program provides an ideal resource for first-responding officers. As officers respond to a school incident, they can view pertinent information on their laptops. Information on more than 60 schools fit on 1 CD-ROM. In addition to the Broward County program, safety technologies are emerging and improving all the time. These include remote viewing through surveillance cameras; global positioning systems that allow for the continuous tracking of school buses; a video-based perceptually intelligent surveillance system that uses automated face and facial expression recognition, gesture recognition, body motion analysis, and interpretation of human activities; a virtual walk-through of schools on a laptop; cellular phones for enhanced communication among school staff; the use of biometrics to distinguish those allowed access to an area; advanced weapons detection; and geographic information systems. One method of funding these types of technology is through the Safe School Technology Grants from the Science and Technology Branch of the National Institute of Justice (www.nlectc.org/assistance/schoolsafety.htm).