Lockdown procedures and planned security responses have long been commonplace in school and college environments, just as in any heavily populated public space, as a means to protect students and faculty members from physical security threats, natural disasters and other similar emergencies.
Traditionally, to develop and implement an effective lockdown policy, school security teams and staff members will have been required to manually assess unfolding situations and adjust the operation of installed devices accordingly, though today’s integrated systems allow for a more intuitive approach.
By combining the operation of core security systems such as video cameras, access control devices and on-site alarms within an integrated cloud-based management platform, automated responses to common threats can be developed, but appropriate responses may not be universal to all campuses.
To explain this idea further, here’s why lockdowns should be adapted to the needs of your campus.
Improved decision-making
Often the key to fast and effective incident responses lies in your campus security team’s ability to make prompt decisions informed by relevant real-time data. If a suspected intrusion event has been detected in one area of the school, on-site personnel will be required to quickly engage and adjust nearby security devices in order to best protect students and apprehend unauthorized intruders.
If installed security systems are not adapted to the unique needs of a specific environment, on-site teams will need to manually assess the situation to react accordingly, potentially placing additional pressure on the shoulders of already stretched security staff and negatively impacting incident response times.
Decision-making can be dramatically improved with support from smart technology solutions such as AI-informed video security cameras, with these systems able to inform the operation of wider devices like door locks and alarms in direct response to recorded stimuli like contraband items and suspected weapons, allowing for adaptive lockdown procedures unique to unfolding events in specific schools.
Reliable incident prevention
Choosing to develop a bespoke security system informed by smart technology devices can also aid school security staff in preventing common security threats from occurring, allowing teams to adapt existing property access and wider security systems to better suit the needs of individual campuses.
For example, many college campuses will be required to permit some degree of managed property access to part-time students, guest lecturers, visitors and contract workers, but it may not be possible to provide each of these individuals with unique physical credentials used to manage school access.
By instead operating a mobile access control system in which users are issued digital credentials to be stored in their own smartphones, security staff can create, manage and adjust active permissions remotely to prevent unauthorized persons from causing harm without impeding temporary visitors.
Developing layered responses
A further important reason to adapt lockdown procedures to the requirements of specific facilities is to allow for the creation of layered lockdown responses. In most cases, installed security devices will be required to activate in response to varying levels of security threat, meaning an appropriate response to one situation may be too drastic or not effective enough to reliably protect staff and students from another.
Rather than implementing a one-size-fits-all approach that could lead to significant gaps in campus security or the presence of exploitable vulnerabilities, teams should look towards developing layered lockdown responses in which all installed devices are programmed to trigger at different thresholds.
For example, if AI-informed cameras detect a localized incident such as a crowd forming or a break-in after hours, only locks in the immediate area will be engaged and security staff will be notified, though if a more serious threat is reported such as an intruder with a weapon automated security systems can be programmed to instantly lockdown the entire site and request law enforcement to respond.
Summary
School administrators and campus security teams will be required to develop and implement well-tested and reliable lockdown responses to all common security threats, however, applying the same responses to all unfolding incidents may well expose significant vulnerabilities within active systems.
To appropriately protect all students, faculty members and visitors from varying degrees of threat, it’s advised that teams look towards the development of adaptive and bespoke building security systems capable of automatically responding to specific incidents with support from data-informed smart technologies.
School administrators can receive assistance in the creation of such systems by exploring a range of school security funding options offered by both government and charity organizations, allowing teams to develop reliable and effective security systems adapted to the needs of specific educational facilities.