Analytics Adds Importance To Security

By VideoIQ, Inc.

In light of increasing violence at schools across the country, Onondaga Central School District decided to put a preventative security strategy in place to help protect its school property, 1,000 students and 180 faculty. The school’s administration knew there were many security products and systems available, each proclaiming to be the best in its own right, and wanted to be sure they selected the right approach. Robert Sauro, Director of Technology for Onondaga Central School District, said, “One of our strategic planning goals was to have a safe and secure environment on school property. We had no security survelliance systems on school grounds and we wanted to remedy this without realizing a significant increase in costs.”

Fortuitously, in March 2009, at the same time Onondaga Central School District administration was determining what approach they would take, the U.S. Department of Justice  announced that its Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) was making approximately $16 million available in grants to help improve school security. Superintendent Joseph Rotella learned of the program and successfully secured a grant to cover 50 percent of the total cost of implementing a security system across the district’s three elementary schools.