Survey: Campuses Struggling to Manage Their Guests With Access Control Systems
University, school and hospital protection professionals want technologies that will help them better manage visitors and reach them during emergencies.
Video Surveillance
More than half (52%) of all survey respondents rated the quality of their campus’ video surveillance technology as good (36%) or excellent (16%), however, hospital survey takers were by far the individuals most satisfied with their camera systems. Nearly two-thirds (64%) rated them as good or excellent. Only 47% of schools and universities were as complimentary about the video surveillance technology deployed at their institutions. One in five university respondents (20%) rated it as somewhat or completely unacceptable. Ten percent of all respondents said they have no problems with this technology.
Of the institutions that indicated they had challenges, older systems appear to be causing the most trouble. Four of the concerns most often mentioned by respondents are related directly to technology obsolescence.
More than a third of K-12 and university respondents (36%) say integration with other public safety systems is a top video surveillance challenge, but that percentage goes up to 46% for hospitals. Thirty-one percent of higher ed survey takers said many of their cameras are old and don’t capture images they can use, while 38% of K-12 respondents indicated this was an issue. By contrast, nearly half of all hospital respondents (49%) said this was one of their top video surveillance challenges.
With regard to policies and procedures that support camera systems, universities (24%) and K-12 schools (20%) are struggling the most, while only 12% of hospital respondents indicated this is a significant concern.
Two-Way Radios and Intrusion Detection
More than two-thirds of all respondents rated their two-way radios as good (42%) or excellent (25%). That being said, more than a third indicated their radios can’t interoperate with first responders from surrounding jurisdictions — a troubling fact considering interoperability is considered by many law enforcement and security professionals to be the component that can make or break first responder efforts during an emergency. Another stat that is concerning is the 14% of respondents who say their radios are not narrowbanding compliant. At the beginning of 2013, all public safety and business industrial land mobile radio systems operating in the 150-512 MHz radio bands must cease operating using 25 kHz efficiency technology, and begin operating using at least 12.5 kHz efficiency technology.
When asked about their campus’ intrusion detection systems, more than a quarter (26%) of all respondents rated theirs as somewhat or completely unacceptable. Universities were the most dissatisfied, with 18% saying their technology was somewhat unacceptable, and another 11% saying it was completely unacceptable.
To view more charts from the technology survey, click here.
Robin Hattersley Gray is executive editor of Campus Safety magazine.
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