The video captured by the school’s decade-old analog video cameras yielded too few details to be useful — especially at night when most incidents occurred. The district decided an IP-based surveillance system with higher image quality and more advanced features would provide much better forensic detail, act as a deterrent for vandalism and other inappropriate activity, and enable quicker and easier video searches following a security event.
“The video from our old analog camera system was so pixelated, we only identified culprits about 15 percent of time,” said Brandon Jensen, principal of Cody High School. “Our new Axis cameras have such amazing image clarity that so far we’ve been able to identify who was doing what 100 percent of the time.”
ISC Corporation, a network integrator and certified Axis partner headquartered in Casper, Wyo., recommended an array of 80 indoor and outdoor network cameras from Axis Communications to monitor the school building and its 42-acre campus. The exterior cameras are equipped with automatic day/night functionality to provide a clear picture of people and objects even in low-light conditions. School administrative and security staff use NetDVMS, OnSSI’s video management system, to monitor and investigate the video as well as manage the Axis cameras over the school’s fiber network.
ISC deployed AXIS 214 PTZ Network Cameras (pan/tilt/zoom) and AXIS 225FD Fixed Dome Network Cameras on building exteriors to cover entry doors, the senior parking lot, bus loading zone, and abutting parks and recreation areas. ISC also deployed AXIS P3301 Fixed Dome Network Cameras inside the high school to cover hallways, stairwells, the gymnasium and common areas, as well as outside bathrooms and classrooms.
To avoid unnecessary archiving, ISC leverages motion detection embedded in the Axis cameras to trigger recording using OnSSI’s NetDVMS. Additionally, the school uses a Smart Search function to quickly scan archived video for missing objects. This is done by selecting an area within the field of view — such as a laptop on a table — and then instructing the VMS to compare pixels in multiple frames to identify when that object disappears.
The onsite school resource officer (SRO) has full access to the high school’s cameras and serves as the liaison to the chief of police and Park County Sheriff’s Department. In an emergency, the SRO can share password access to the cameras and, if needed, the mobile command unit operated by Park County Search and Rescue has wireless access to live video.
