School Security | News

Wisconsin District Beefs Up Video Security Through COPS Grant

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 02/24/11

With the help of a federal grant, the Mauston School District in Wisconsin is adopting technology in its schools to help bolster physical security. The five-school district has gone out to bid for installation of a video security surveillance system for its high school as well as a video system integrated with a keyless entry system at its middle school and one elementary school.

The bulk of the funding for the project is coming from a $105,000 COPS grant, awarded by the United States Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. The town's police department will manage the equipment, which is described in a fairly proscriptive request for proposal. The district indicated it plans to run about 170 interior and exterior IP cameras, with a preference for cameras from Panasonic and Arecont, and three wireless Axis Communications cameras. Those will be managed through an application from ExacqVision.

The keyless entry gear will consist of an Aiphone intercom system and Keyscan access control management.

The setup will allow school personnel to view visitors before they're allowed into the main school building and give police officers remote access to camera views in their patrol cars.

Approval for the plan, which includes vendor selection, will go before the school board in May.