The peak of serious violent crimes committed by youth in the US was in 1993 when 1,108 crimes were reported. Since that time, the situation in schools has been subject to a rapid positive change. Already in 2017, the number of violent youth crimes was at the rate of 215 instances, which is more than five times lower than in the 1990s.
It seems that American educational facilities have already gone a long way to ensure the safety of their students and staff. We can see a significant decrease in the number of crimes.
It can be stated that school environments have generally become much safer. These facts indicate the good job US schools made in enhancing their security systems. But, there is still space for further improvement.
Today, over 98% of educational facilities all over the United States have at least some safety systems. However, as technology keeps evolving, we get more and more advanced features that can grant higher levels of protection. What are these features?
In this article, we are going to take a look at some of the best ones.
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What Types of Security Systems Are Used Today?
For many years, school security has been a top priority. There are certain common features used across different facilities. But, each institution approaches the matter of security differently. As a rule, solutions are chosen based on particular needs, objectives, and circumstances.
Modern educational facilities most often use one or several of the following subsystems:
- Controlled access to the building during the day;
- Surveillance technology;
- Personal panic buttons;
- Special detectors (for example, intrusion detection systems) that give a signal in a case of emergency;
- Mechanical safety hardware, etc.
Often, schools use a combination of several features to ensure a decent level of protection. The key mission of each of these subsystems is to identify a threat.
They are also used to notify administrators and other staff, providing them with the possibility to respond to an emergency appropriately.
Top 3 Best Features to Enhance School Security in 2020
As more and more educational facilities put security at the top of their priority list, the demand for public school security systems keeps growing.
However, today, many authorities find traditional safety measures too old-fashioned. In 2020, we are looking for more advanced, cutting-edge security solutions to ensure an even higher level of protection.
What are the best safety features available to schools now? The experts from essay services conducted research to find the most advanced solutions. Here is our top list of the features that schools should incorporate in 2020.
Cybersecurity
As more and more educational facilities provide free access to the Internet, cybersecurity becomes essential. Unfortunately, some facilities are still overlooking its importance, focusing on ensuring physical safety.
Thus, it is one of the vital features to add to public school security systems in 2020!
To help authorities pick the right tools and solutions that suit them most, the Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools Technical Assistance Center has prepared a comprehensive guide that covers key cybersecurity considerations for K-12 schools.
Gunshot Detection
Another great feature for implementing the overall level of protection is Gunshot Detection. In a nutshell, this is hardware that uses special infrared sensors and acoustic microphones. Those help administrations distinguish actual gunshots from other loud noises.
Such a system has the potential to bring safety in educational facilities to a whole new level. It makes it possible to distinguish shots from, let’s say, loud lockers slamming noise.
This triggers an alert to notify authorities about the threat, physical location of the shooter, and even the caliber of the weapon.
AI-Enabled Cameras
It is neither new or rare to see plenty of cameras scattered around the hallways of different educational facilities. Without a doubt, this is one of those features that almost every institution has already adopted.
Yet, as the technological progress keeps moving forward, even such regular tools as safety cameras become more advanced than ever.
The next feature that deserves attention in 2020 is the AI used in security cameras. Smart cameras enabled by AI offer us a large number of great features.
The most significant ones are a possibility to search for all images of a particular person or vehicle across every single camera located in the building.
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The Bottom Line
Over the past decades, educational facilities in the United States, as well as in many other countries across the globe, have gone a long way to ensure decent protection of their students and staff.
A lot has already been done, and crime stats clearly show a positive tendency.
Yet, the world doesn’t stand still. Every year we get more and more innovative advanced solutions. School safety is still a priority, and in 2020, we have even more high-tech solutions to further improve the case.
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