Where The Hall Monitor Is A Webcam
An increasing number of U.S. schools are turning to video surveillance cameras in an effort to boost security, especially as safety concerns rise.
“Threats range from bullying to school shootings, and now terrorism and war,” says Ken Trump, a school security consultant in Cleveland, Ohio.
In Fresno, Calif., for example, the campus which houses the W.E.B. DuBois and Carter G. Woodson charter schools uses 12 cameras, affixed at entrances, corridors, and the computer lab, to allow “real-time” monitoring of students inside the buildings.
Anyone with an Internet connection and password can watch the students remotely, including the Fresno Police Department. School administrators, instructors, and students say the cameras make the school feel more secure.
In Biloxi, Miss., meanwhile, the city has spent $1.2 million to place a surveillance camera in every classroom, which number nearly 500. But Biloxi superintendent of schools Dr. Larry Drawdy says the sense of security may be misleading, since someone wanting to inflict harm in a school usually wants attention, rather than hopes to escape.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the New York Times (02/27/03) P. G1; Hafner, Katie.
