https://www.americancityandcounty.com/wp-content/themes/acc_child/assets/images/logo/footer-logo.png
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Hybrid Work
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcast
  • Resources & Events
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • IWCE 2022
    • How to Contribute
    • Municipal Cost Index – Archive
    • Equipment Watch Page
    • American City & County Awards
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Privacy Statement
    • Terms of Service
American City and County
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Hybrid Work
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcasts
  • Resources/Events
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers/eBooks
    • IWCE 2022
    • How to Contribute
    • American City & County Awards
    • Municipal Cost Index
    • Equipment Watch Page
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Stament
    • Terms of Service
  • newsletter
  • Administration
  • Economy & Finance
  • Procurement
  • Public Safety
  • Public Works & Utilities
  • Smart Cities & Technology
  • Magazine
acc.com


Alarm system helps  city secure buildings

Alarm system helps city secure buildings

Overland Park, Kan., has installed an electronic access control system to prevent access by unwanted visitors in its major municipal buildings and to
  • Written by American City & County Administrator
  • 1st January 1999

Overland Park, Kan., has installed an electronic access control system to prevent access by unwanted visitors in its major municipal buildings and to keep inmates secure. The C-Cure access control system from Boca Raton, Fla.-based Sensormatic Electronics serves more than 150,000 square feet of office space, including police stations and the city jail.

The main building, the W. Jack Sanders Justice Center, is a 70,000-square-foot facility constructed in 1996. About 250 employees work in the building, which houses the police department’s south patrol division and administrative offices, courtrooms, juvenile and adult detention cells, and booking areas. The security system also was installed in the following three buildings: * City Hall, which houses the mayor, the city manager, the city attorney and departments such as finance and planning. About 200 employees work there. * The police department’s Antioch facility, where 125 employees work. Located across the street from City Hall, the 30,000-square-foot building houses the dispatching center, records department, information systems department and north patrol division. * The Westgate police station, a 10,000-square-foot converted fire station where about 75 traffic- and animal-control employees work. The two primary functions of the new security system are restricting access to certain areas and sounding alarms in the event an area is forcibly entered. Bob Pledge, Overland Park’s manager of facilities and operations, says the new setup allows for better control of the buildings than was possible with conventional keys.

“It was getting to be a monumental task keeping track of all of those keys,” Pledge says. Whenever someone lost a key, he adds, it was necessary to change the lock and issue new keys to employees in order to maintain security.

With the new system, all access cards are programmed to allow individual employees entrance only to those areas necessary for them to perform their jobs. Cards can be altered, added to or removed from the system in minutes, says Ken Rodney, the city’s director of information technology.

If, for example, one of the 700 cards is lost, Rodney’s department can easily disable the card by accessing the computer software. Additionally, if a theft or other incident occurs in a room, the system records the date, time and cardholder I.D. number each time an area is accessed, thus making investigators’ jobs easier.

All information regarding entries and alarms is recorded on the system’s host computer located in the Information Services Department. A backup system also retains information and keeps an electronic access log in the event that the host computer were to fail.

Some 135 card readers from Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola have been installed in the four buildings, including 24 that are affixed to both sides of the steel doors on the justice center’s 12 detention cells. The city expects to save money by reducing its reliance on security guards.

In addition to card readers and alarms, the system incorporates a sally port that allows police officers to drive prisoners into the justice center without having to leave their patrol vehicles to gain access. As they approach the port, officers use their access cards to open an overhead door that automatically closes after they have entered.

Most of the three police stations’ inner chambers may be accessed only through a card reader, but each station has a lobby open 24 hours a day for citizens to enter. All other public doors are automatically locked at 5 p.m. and unlocked at 8 a.m. each weekday. However, the system’s dealer, Kansas City, Mo.-based CamDex Security & Film Corp., configured the card readers and software to enable city council members and others to access the building for evening public meetings.

The computers use a Windows NT operating system that can be expanded to handle gate controls, closed-circuit television and I.D. badging systems.

Tags:

Most Recent


  • Report: Local and state governments are facing a retention crisis; the worst could be yet to come
    When the pandemic struck in 2020, public retention was hit hard: jobs in local government plummeted by 8.5 percent; state employment dropped by 4.4 percent. Two years later, local and state government jobs have rebounded by about half—to 4.1 and 1.9 percent below pre-pandemic levels respectively, according to a new report from Mission Square Research […]
  • Amid an unprecedented increase in federal spending, cities and counties stand to benefit from partnerships
    The so-called “American dream” of upward mobility has more or less stagnated: Today, a little more than 40 percent of children raised at the bottom of the income ladder remain there as adults, according to Pew Charitable Trusts, and only half grow up to earn more than their parents. This data points to a concerning […]
  • hybrid technology
    Governments using technology to harness data and improve decision-making
    There’s one kind of technology that state and local governments covet, says Rob Carey, president of Cloudera Government Solutions. “While supporting multiple state and local government agencies, our team has noticed an increase in the need for hybrid cloud solutions.” A hybrid cloud is the combination of both public and private cloud deployment models. In […]
  • Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA
    Infrastructure highlighted by city leaders as top priority in analysis of 60 mayoral addresses
    After two years of ping-pong lockdown orders, mask mandates, unprecedented vaccine drives and economic uncertainty, cities across the United States are beginning to emerge in the pandemic’s aftermath, and they’re prioritizing infrastructure, according to a report published Wednesday by the National League of Cities (NLC).  “The new normal, as we now understand it, is here,” […]

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your American City and County account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • Arbor Day Foundation and Intrinsyx Environmental offer natural solution to clean up industrial contamination in cities and towns
  • MS-ISAC members get free access to Deloitte’s Cyber Detect and Respond Portal to help respond to cyber threats
  • Deltek releases 12th annual Clarity Government Contracting Report
  • How local governments can improve bridge projects through strategic engagement

White papers


How to Assemble a Rockstar Website Redesign Steering Committee

7th June 2022

Hand Hygiene: Compliance Matters

23rd May 2022

What it Takes to Build a Winning Esports Program

23rd May 2022
view all

Events


PODCAST


Young Leaders Episode 4 – Cyril Jefferson – City Councilman, High Point, North Carolina

13th October 2020

Young Leaders Episode 3 – Shannon Hardin – City Council President, Columbus, Ohio

27th July 2020

Young Leaders Episode 2 – Christian Williams – Development Services Planner, Goodyear, Ariz.

1st July 2020
view all

Twitter


AmerCityCounty

Report: Local and state governments are facing a retention crisis; the worst could be yet to come dlvr.it/SSnmS7

24th June 2022
AmerCityCounty

Amid an unprecedented increase in federal spending, cities and counties stand to benefit from partnerships dlvr.it/SSkGBn

23rd June 2022
AmerCityCounty

Governments using technology to harness data and improve decision-making dlvr.it/SSk3H0

23rd June 2022
AmerCityCounty

Infrastructure highlighted by city leaders as top priority in analysis of 60 mayoral addresses dlvr.it/SSgBck

22nd June 2022
AmerCityCounty

Oklahoma City puts the focus on employees when implementing changes in office technology dlvr.it/SSfyns

22nd June 2022
AmerCityCounty

We want to hear from you! Please take this brief survey and let us know how your organization is managing your budg… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

22nd June 2022
AmerCityCounty

Buying smart solutions: Technology is now part of (almost) every government purchase dlvr.it/SSbj3Z

21st June 2022
AmerCityCounty

Amid tech labor shortage, outsourcing digital services could provide relief dlvr.it/SSbj23

21st June 2022

Newsletters

Sign up for American City & County’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about local governments.

Resale Insights Dashboard

The Resale Insights Dashboard provides model-level data for the entire used equipment market to help you save time and money.

Municipal Cost Index

Updated monthly since 1978, our exclusive Municipal Cost Index shows the effects of inflation on the cost of providing municipal services

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital audience? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • IWCE’s Urgent Communications
  • IWCE Expo

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us

FOLLOW American City and County ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookies Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2022 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X