SecureU - School Security Cameras Go Cutting Edge

Published: 11/01/07

School Security Cameras Go Cutting Edge
From the article of the same title by Thomas Frank: USA Today: Editor's note: Occasionally SecureU includes articles on other sectors that may have relevance to higher education.

Security cameras that detect intruders with face-recognition technology will be deployed at three schools and an administration building in Nashville, Tenn., starting Dec. 1, says assistant superintendent for student services Ralph Thompson. The city will snap digital photos of students and workers at the test schools and store them in the camera system, and security will be alerted when a camera spots a face that is not in the database. Executive director of the National Association of School Safety and Law Enforcement Officers Peter Pochowski said other school systems could be spurred to adopt the technology if the Nashville test is successful. Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's face-recognition program Jonathon Phillips said the system's effectiveness can be impacted by poor lighting or if subjects are viewed from an angle. The face-recognition technology has been heavily criticized by civil liberty advocates, with Melissa Ngo of the Electronic Privacy Information Center arguing that "schools should not feel like some sort of prison."

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