“One of the cool features about the NLSS product is that it allows us to zoom in on live and recorded video, which we couldn’t do before,” Yant says.
The NLSS Gateway allowed Yant to create floor plans for each school that shows where every camera is located. Using the NLSS Remote Management Services (RMS) for remote accessibility and system management, CCUSD also provides remote access to the Culver City Police Department (CCPD) to allow police to view the school’s system from their station, vehicles and mobile command posts. By utilizing the floor plans, CCPD can also view live video feeds of a specific school building to prepare a response to a critical incident.
“I wasn’t just thinking as a security director when I installed the system, but as a police officer responding to schools in the case of an active shooter or some other critical incident,” Yant says. “From a tactical perspective as a responding police officer, it narrows my area of focus down to one section instead of me having to go through the entire campus.”
View our photo gallery of this project
If the Gateway should malfunction, Next Level will replace the unit within 48 hours, Sanchez says.
To help pay for the more than $60,000 system, CCUSD received a grant from its insurance company. So far, the district has seen a decent return on investment (ROI), according to Yant. “It cost us less to install cameras and Gateways at the sites than we lost in computers,” he says.
Additionally, the new system has helped CCUSD security personnel solve some crimes. “Since the system’s been involved, we were able to capture a serial thief who was coming to the middle school to steal bicycles,” Yant explains. “We were also able to positively identify two students who were accused of raping another student.”
Impressed with CCUSD’s proactive approach to security, Domene, thinks all schools should follow Yant’s example when upgrading a security system.
“It’s nice to deal with someone who understands what we’re talking about and has realistic expectations,” Domene says. “I look at CCUSD as being very proactive to provide top-notch security for their students.”
Theft Exposes Lack of Best Intrusion Practices
A string of burglaries between two elementary schools at the Culver City Unified School District (CCUSD) resulted in the loss of more than $15,000 in stolen iMac computers. The event prompted Ted Yant, the district’s security supervisor, to install cameras in computer labs in each of CCUSD’s nine schools.
“One school was hit twice, and the burglars were able to take 10 iMacs. The other school was hit three times and lost a total of five computers,” he says.
The first incident triggered the school’s intrusion alarm, and police responded to the scene within four minutes. Still, the intruders were able to take four computers. In the other events, the alarm never sounded, Yant says.
“I looked at the alarm system, and I saw that security set it at 10 p.m. on the night of the incident,” he explains. “There was no other arming or disarming of it, so when I called the alarm company that monitors our system, I asked if they received an alarm signal, and they told me they hadn’t. It turns out that the equipment was wireless and the batteries died.”
Yant says the alarm company, which normally informs the district when the alarm batteries are low, failed to notify him that the alarm required a battery change.
“I know this is a function that normally works because they called me at 2 a.m., one time to tell me that the battery was low,” he says. “But they admitted that the technician didn’t set up the alarm that way, so there was no trouble signal.”
To prevent such a thing from happening, Kevin Dome
ne of San Diego-based SDA Security notes that when installing an alarm system, it is important for technicians to call each zone in the central station.
“When you call the zones, not only are you sending an alarm signal from that zone, but you also pull the battery from that device to basically cut power to it,” he says. “So, that system would register a trouble signal as well because someone is supervising the device.”
While SDA Security does not monitor CCUSD’s alarm system, Domene says the cause for this problem stems from the technicians not putting the customers’ needs first; rather, they are seeking to complete the installation as quickly as possible.
“I’ve seen it before where alarm technicians are in a hurry, so they set the zone up, test the alarm signal, and then they forget the rest,” Domene says. “It’s really about making sure you take that extra step to make sure the alarm works properly.
Ashley Willis is Associate Editor for SECURITY SALES & INTEGRATION. She can be reached at (310) 533-2419.
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