School Security Technologies

Oh, no! You won't be getting a printed SCUP–45 Preliminary Program in the mail this year. Instead, SCUP is going green and regularly updating this digital version (PDF), which you can download at any time.

Check it out! You don't want to miss higher education's premier planning conference, and your one chance this year to assemble with nearly 1,500 of your peers and colleagues: July 10–14, Minneapolis.

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SCUP Link

We often find useful resources at the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities (NCEF), which is headed by SCUPer Judy Marks. This (currently 16-page) resource is created by NCEF and updated quarterly, because the technologies and their use are changing so rapidly. The NCEF's mandate is for K–12 education, but this and many other resources there are valuable to higher education planners as well.

Over the past decade electronic security technology has evolved from an exotic possibility into an essential safety consideration. Technological improvements are coming onto the market almost daily, and keeping up with the latest innovation is a full time job. At a minimum, a basic understanding of these devices has become a prerequisite for well-informed school security planning.

Before resorting to high-tech security solutions, school officials should think carefully about the potential for unintended consequences. Technological fixes may be mismatched to the problems being addressed. They can be expensive. Any network will require continual maintenance, eventual upgrading, and constantly updated virus protection and intrusion detection systems (IDS) to watch for hackers or unauthorized transfers of data. A full-blown information technology (IT) department will usually be essential.

An over-reliance on electronic technology can backfire with power outages and technological failures. Some security technologies raise political and philosophical concerns. Still, technology, used correctly, can be highly functional and cost effective. Its pros and cons must be weighed carefully within the context of local sensibilities and conditions.

Don’t start by choosing a technology and looking for a problem it can solve. The process should be the reverse: Identify and prioritize the problems before jumping to solutions, and analyze solutions carefully before committing funding. It’s not uncommon for districts to invest in a particular technology district-wide before analyzing and priority-ranking the real concerns of the individual schools. Every school should be capable of quick lockdowns and evacuations, but the details beyond that can vary considerably. Some schools are in rough neighborhoods where violence is endemic, others are not. Some schools are constrained by meager budgets, others have deep pockets. Leaky roofs may take precedence over electronic access control systems.
Partial measures can prove to be wasted investments. Secure front doors are of little value if back entries remain uncontrolled. Metal detectors and ID cards won’t stop bullying behavior, nor will security cameras stop offenders, as has become all too evident at many school shootings. On the other hand, comprehensive access control and improved emergency communication systems are usually good investments.

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Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring:

• March 24–26: Cambridge, MA - "Strengths and Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats"
• April 5–7, San Diego, CA - "Smart Planning in an Era of Uncertainty"
• April 7, Houston, TX - "Sustaining Higher Education in an Age of Challenge"

College Planning & Management Magazine - October 2009

Rather than focus on a specific item, we're going to share this issue's Table of Contents with you, so you can click through the specific articles you might be interested in: Designing the Healthy Residence Hall by Nadia Zihri; Sustainability and Managing Student Expectations by John Southard, Jennifer Baldridge, and Chris Heinz; Green: The Preferred Color Choice at St. Norbert College (mechanical systems department initiative) by Janet Wiens; Caller I.D. (anonymous tip lines and security) by one of our favorite higher education writers, Julie Sturgeon; The Bottom Line of Outsourced Facilities Services by Randy Ledbetter; Towson University Notifies the Masses (emergency alert system) by Jason Kneen; and Technology: The Netbook Phenomenon by David Dodd.

Iraqi Campus Is Under Gang’s Sway

Imagine working at an institution with the kinds of problems the staff at Mustansiriya University (Iraq) are coping with. A violent gang of students, with support from faculty and campus security:

Although Baghdad and most other areas of the country are now generally free of the armed militias that caused much of the violence during Iraq’s sectarian warfare, Mustansiriya seems a remnant of that chaos. It is under the sway of an armed group of violent Shiite students in engineering, literature, law and other disciplines; faculty members; and campus security guards.

[P]rofessors and administrators at the school solemnly give the names of colleagues and students who were threatened by the group before being found dead: Jasim al-Fahaidawi, a professor of Arabic literature, shot dead at the university’s entrance in 2005; Najeb al-Salihi, a psychology professor, kidnapped in 2006 near the campus and found in the morgue three weeks later, shot to death; and Jasim Fiadh al-Shammari, a psychology professor fatally shot near the university, also in 2006.

Strategies for Managing Security Issues at Two-Year Institutions

Writing in University Business with the title "Securing the Community College," Ann McClure examines some of the unique variables of campus security that must be addressed by community college leaders: "Just as the fluid student population makes it difficult to understand outside forces influencing their behavior, the larger percentage of adjunct and part-time faculty employed at community colleges can make it harder to become familiar with everyone working on campus. Add that concern to the likelihood a community college will have satellite campuses and outreach programs that bring local citizens onto campus—making for a much larger population to watch."

Campus Safety and Security: January-February Issue of Facilities Manager Magazine

This issue of APPA's Facilities Manager focuses on Campus Safety and Security, with the following articles: "Planning for Campus Safety" by Alan Dessoff; "APPA Participates in Innovative Effort to Enhance Campus Safety and Security" by Ruth E. Thaler-Carter; "Blueprint for Safer Campuses" by the IACLEA Special Review Task Force; and "The Price of Paralysis" by Steven C. Thweatt.

Facilities Physical Security Measures Guidelines - Draft Open for Comments

Verbatim:

The ASIS Commission on Standards and Guidelines has released a draft of the Facilities Physical Security Measures Guideline. The purpose of the new guideline is to describe the main types of physical security measures that can be applied to minimize the security risks at a facility. ASIS International is the preeminent organization for security management professionals worldwide.

The guideline is available for a 45-day public review and comment period (through Sept. 15). Comments will be reviewed and considered before publication of this guideline.

The Facilities Physical Security Measures Guideline assists in the identification of physical security measures that can be applied at facilities to safeguard or protect an organization’s assets—people, property, and information. It is not aimed at a specific occupancy, but facilities and buildings in general.

ASIS uses a voluntary, nonproprietary, and consensus-based process to write its guidelines, and relies not only upon the knowledge, experience, and expertise of ASIS members, but also upon those nonmembers who volunteer their time to the guideline creation process.

Scanning the Future of Campus Security

University Business shares this interview by Michele Herrman with five campus leaders in campus security and law enforcement, from the University of South Carolina, The University of Maine, Butler Community College, College of Saint Benedict, and George Washington University. It's clear that the issues they address and plan for touch - like many other areas of planning that are best done in an integrated fashion - all parts of the campus and its surrounding community. Their most significant future concerns include: funding need, the increasing numbers of student with mental health issues, and the growing increase in the level of campus-based service expectations by incoming students.