Data Security

Motorola Launches 'Safe Schools,' Bundling Video, Data, Analytics and Voice

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 05/04/20

Motorola Solutions has launched an integrated campus safety bundle that combines video, data, analytics and voice. Safe Schools is intended to help school sites secure their campus perimeter, control access to buildings and speed up communication with local law enforcement.

The technology provides for video security and analytics, license plate recognition, anonymous tip submission and access control. According to the company, the video analytics can help school personnel identify suspicious activities and search video footage to locate individuals based on physical descriptions and notify authorized users with text-to-voice alerts and text messages to two-way radios and broadband devices. School officials can share real-time alerts and live video feeds with first responders as part of coordinating incident response.

One district that has already tried the new system is Perry Township Schools, near Indianapolis. The school system, which has its own police force, worked with system integrator ERS Wireless to implement Safe Schools in two of its high schools. There, the set-up included:

• Video security, access control and license plate recognition software from Avigilon, a Motorola company;

• Mototrbo Linked Capacity Plus network and Mototrbo digital radios;

• Motorola's APX mission-critical radios and LEX L11 LTE devices;

• Ally security incident management software;

• CommandCentral Aware, situational awareness software, with video sharing with Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department; and

• CommandCentral Community for public interactions.

"Safe Schools gives us the ability to monitor all areas of our campus in real-time, assess potential situations and respond to alerts in just a few minutes," said Chris Sampson, associate superintendent, in a statement. Heh added that the technology "can help create a secure environment for our students, teachers and community members as we look forward to having our students back with us in our Perry Township schools."

As Brian Knight, principal for Southport High Schools, noted, during normal operations, "Our buildings have 19-20 exterior doors. It’s not unusual to have multiple doors propped open. It’s typically not nefarious, but it makes the building vulnerable."

"When parents send their children back to school, they expect that their child will be in a secure environment. However, because schools are a place for the community and visitors to gather, securing them can be a unique challenge," added John Zidar, Motorola senior vice president. "Safe Schools is designed to help schools be more proactive in their safety planning and provide visibility into otherwise unknown threats, helping to ensure that students are safer and personnel can focus on the job at hand."

Recently, the company ran a virtual showcase demonstrating the Safe Schools ecosystem. Those presentations are available now on-demand with registration.