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CARRIE DEBRONEKitchener Citizen
January 17, 2013
The fastest-growing college in Ontario, serving a population of 50,000 students, Conestoga College has modernized and upgraded its security system over the past three years – a system which now includes 167 surveillance cameras at its main Doon Campus.
Security is increasingly becoming a top concern for public institutions, including schools, where it has recently been brought to the forefront again by school shootings in the United States.
Don Willis, the college’s Director of Safety and Security Services, said an audit completed about three years ago by Bulldog Fire and Security and the college showed the need for more up-to-date equipment.
“We had used and new equipment purchased over the years, and a variety of DVRs stuck in backrooms. One room had seven DVRs and so much cabling you couldn’t get to the back of the room. The quality of the images was simply not very good and we often did not have cameras where we needed them,” Willis said.
The college’s older analog cameras were digitized into three custom-built hybrid servers, and about 80 new IP cameras were added to places like parking lots, new buildings and green spaces where there had previously been no cameras.
Remote access now allows the security office to watch all common areas of the campus. Not wanting the cameras to
be intrusive, there are no security cameras in the college’s
classrooms.
The outdoor-ready, vandal-resistant HDTV cameras send
images far clearer than most security cameras, eliminating
the pixilation, static and graininess of the previous analog
cameras.
The new cameras have helped catch car thieves who had struck a number of large local parking lots.
One day at the college a number of high-end pickup trucks and SUVs were stolen. The cameras captured a suspect’s license.
Willis said the clearer images reduce the time that security staff has to devote to examining surveillance videos, and helps with quick identification of the people filmed.
According to a report from the college, “Forensic searches that previously consumed hours are now conducted in minutes, and Conestoga security has implemented entire emergency training procedures around the new system.”
And the college’s security system is now part of the orientation tours for prospective students and their parents.
On any given day, about 7,500 staff, students and visitors are at the main Doon Campus.
“As a guest, student or staff member at this college I want people to come here and not to worry about their safety. I think we’ve accomplished that with this system,” Willis said.
And as a further benefit to students, the upgraded security system is likely to become part of the college’s popular Protection, Security and Investigation (PSI) program. Willis has proposed a job shadowing program where PSI students would learn by job shadowing the college’s security guards. Part of that learning would include exposure to the high-tech system now in place at the college.
PSI students already have a mock security desk at the Doon Campus that allows them to practice surveillance with four security cameras and monitors – all equipment they will likely use in future jobs. The job shadowing proposal will take their training to a higher level.
Kevin Mullan, Vice President of Corporate Services said Conestoga College spends about $900,000 a year in security operating costs (for all its campuses) and a further $30,000 a year in security upgrades.
He said the cost of high-tech cameras and video equipment and networks has reduced over the years while the technology has greatly improved allowing the college to move forward quickly over the last few years with its security upgrades.
Some upgrades have been paid for through a Provincial Women’s Safety Grant, which allowed the college to place two cameras on the pathway that cuts though the Doon Campus green space to parking lots.
Although the campus already provides a “Walk Safe” service where a security guard will escort people to their cars (especially women who may be leaving the school after night classes) students can now also call the security office to have a camera follow them to their vehicle.
The college currently has a staff of 18 guards (including a bicycle guard unit), two investigators, one supervisor and one administrator.
“When I started here in 2008, security was an arm of facilities management. Now it’s a stand alone office,” Willis said, adding that the school has also upgraded its emergency broadcast systems, which used to be a PA system that didn’t go to all buildings on campus.
The new broadcast system provides the ability for security personnel to use the phone to clear the whole college or to target security messages to certain hallways, wings and classrooms.
Barb Eichholz, the college’s Security and Parking Supervisor, said security services also has the ability to set up a remote control center, if security staff ever had to be evacuated from the campus.
“The one thing I love is that I can now watch all of the college campuses, all the pathways and entrances and
hallways and emergency evacuation zones, and the images are so clear,” she said.
Graphic student Emma Stratton said she feels safe at the college.
“I feel like there’s a lot more security here this year than last year,” she said. “We have night classes and the security guards are around all the time.”
Financial planning student Sofia Tchabrazian said she also feels safe on campus. “One time I was stuck in the elevator and security was there right away to help me.”
“They have more security cameras here than any other place I’ve seen,” said graphic design student Andrew McNamara, adding that it does make him feel safe.
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Natalie Metherell, Assistant Supervisor and Security Guard (sitting) and Barb Eichholz, Security and Parking Supervisor, in front of numerous monitors at the Safety and Security Services office at Conestoga College’s Doon Campus. They took part in a training exercise showing how they would use the upgraded security system to search for a “suspicious person” on campus.
About 7,500 people at the campus each day
New surveillance cameras part of improved security at Conestoga College
New surveillance cameras part of improved security at Conestoga College