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Physical Security
The Ins and Outs of Access Control at a Community College District
3/20/2008
The cameras also include a panic alarm option. If somebody is attacked and pushes the panic button, the cameras will maintain a recording of everything that happened a few minutes before and after the button was pushed. "Then possibly, we'll get the face of the perpetrator," said Hartney. "But we don't have security guards sitting there watching everything that's going on. We don't want to invade anybody's privacy."
Currently, between the three campuses, 14 buildings have been entirely outfitted with the access control and alarm management systems. All new construction includes it. Within seven years, Hartney said, almost every building will have the new technology on outside access doors, if not all doors. The only exceptions will be those rare buildings that consist of classrooms that contain nothing of high value and that are located in areas that aren't vulnerable to other types of security problems.
Education about the access control system is on-going, said Hartney. He has given training to large groups, put information on Web sites and issued a pamphlet. One lesson he's learned, he says, is that "not everybody reads what they've been given." When a person is issued a fob or keycard, they have to verify that they've read a document explaining how the new system works. "If they start causing a lot of false alarms, we have security personnel visit them," he said.
Hartney wouldn't push an electronic system comparable to the one at San Mateo for smaller campuses. "It's disruptive. It's a new system," he said. But for schools that have lost control over who has access to what, he concluded, "I think the electronic system is a wonderful way to go."
Dian Schaffhauser is a writer who covers technology and business. Send your higher education technology news to her at dian@dischaffhauser.com.
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