Regulation of surveillance systems on campus

College campus security has become higher priority in recent years, and advancements in technology are providing more advanced surveillance systems for schools across the country. New HD video cameras are being installed on the network in schools at key locations on campus to monitor activity of people coming and going, and any potential threats to students and faculty.

The potential threats that students are subject to have become overwhelming, and any evidence of suspicious activity must be taken in a serious and effective matter. School districts are installing the latest video surveillance technology to help alert officials to potential threats, provide video evidence of thefts, assaults and other malicious activity.

According to Assistant Chief and Assistant Director of Public Safety Bill Buckbee,”As you go from university to university, there are different ways of managing security systems. How Kent State operates specifically is, is there are two major systems here. One of them is operated by Residence Services and is in areas that are under their control, which is essentially the residence halls. The other system is the rest of the university — so support functions, academic buildings, etc.”

Residence services manages alot of surveillance, although the Department of Public Safety has access to alot of those same cameras.

“One system that I have most of the input into is the system outside Residence Services. We have a centralized server on campus, so it’s all stored in a centralized location. There are exceptions because this is a fairly new system. So it is what we call a “legacy system”, an what that means is in prior times, if a building or an area needed video surveillance, it would be limited to a pretty specific area. It would have a localized server, which is called NVR, for network recording system. They would receive input about how and if it was used for safety purposes.”

Buckbee said the system is about 2 1/2 years old and the new aspects of it have to do simply with the evolution of better technology, and another different aspect from previous years, is that they are now trying to use one centralized system, instead of several. This system is managed by the Department of Information Services, with the guidance and direction of the Department of Public Safety.

“What we have tried to do here at Kent State over the past couple years is try to centralize it and make it a little bit easier to manage. So we went with what we call our “one-campus system” which is a centralized surveillance camera that runs off of the network system that goes across campus.”

Because of the somewhat unique setup at the university, if somebody needs or requests cameras, the funding for the cameras themselves comes from the department requesting them. “So if for example, someone in the Art building decides they need cameras, then the department’s budget would have to pay for the installation of the cameras, as well as the monthly fee for the storage of them,” said Buckbee.

“We are trying to make it so we have better oversight and better control and also more efficient maintenance so the systems last longer.”

The “If You See Something, Say Something™” campaign was originally put into place by New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority and now licensed to the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) for a nationwide campaign. It is a program that engages the public to identify and report any signs of terrorism, crime and other threats to law enforcement authorities.

In 2011, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano announced an expansion of expanding the “If You See Something, Say Something™” public awareness campaign in an effort to help ensure safety and security of the American public, according to Kent State’s Department of Public Safety’s website.

The Department of Public Safety recognizes what they call “the seven signs of terrorism”, which are activities on campus sites or near facilities including government, military or other high profile sites/places where large numbers of people gather, which may indicate terrorist planning phases. The following suspicious activities should be reported to law enforcement or campus authorities:

Surveillance: Recording or monitoring activities. May include drawing diagrams, note taking, use of cameras, binoculars or other vision-enhancing devices or possessing floor plans or blueprints of key facilities.
Elicitation: Attempts to obtain operation, security and personnel-related information regarding a key facility. May be made by mail, fax, e-mail, telephone or in person.
Tests of Security: Attempts to measure reaction times to security breaches or to penetrate physical security barriers or procedures in order to assess strengths and weaknesses.
Acquiring Supplies: Attempts to improperly acquire items that could be used in a terrorist act. May include the acquisition of explosives, weapons, harmful chemicals, flight manuals, law enforcement or military equipment, uniforms, identification badges or the equipment to manufacture false identification.
Suspicious Persons: Someone who does not appear to belong in a workplace, neighborhood or business establishment due to their behavior, including unusual questions or statements they make.
Dry Runs/Trial Runs: Behavior that appears to be preparation for a terrorist act without actually committing the act. Activity could include mapping out routes and determining the timing of traffic lights and flow.
Deploying Assets: Placing people, equipment and supplies into position to commit the act. This is the last opportunity to alert authorities before the terrorist act occurs.

“We don’t fully monitor cameras on campus 24/7; however, we do have the ability to bring up any image recorded from the cameras at any time. Even though the images are displayed, we don’t have people in place full-time monitoring it in a technical sense, because they can’t devote all their time to doing so. If an incident occurs, dispatchers will call police officers and they will bring up the screen and take a closer look at the situation. All images are recorded, so we may look back on them to help us with further investigation purposes,” said Buckbee.

An exception to that has is put in place this Halloween. There will be external images from surveillance on various buildings that will be monitoring traffic during the holiday weekend. “We will have people in place to test if this is effective, and to see if this limited type of monitoring is valuable to detect crimes quicker,” Buckbee said.