by Shane Henson — November 1, 2013—Michigan’s Traverse City Area Public Schools (TCAPS) school system has substantially enhanced its ability to monitor its premises with the recent installation of Milestone Systems’ XProtect open platform video management software (VMS), the basis of an integrated security system that allows security personnel to monitor multiple campuses.
TCAPS covers 300 square miles over three counties in Central Michigan, with thousands of students, teachers, and staff. The increased need to protect them and the valuable public property of its 26 buildings prompted a custom security system to enable monitoring all school activity from a central hub that integrates all security systems in the district into one easy-to-use yet effective platform. The Milestone XProtect Corporate software was chosen to meet TCAPS’ needs, and allows authorized staff to monitor for safety, security, and disciplinary actions at any time.
The software is a full-scale, federated security solution that includes video streaming, alarm management, access control via card access systems, emergency panic lockdown abilities, video synchronization for all the above, and the ability to control each system centrally from one main control unit.
“We’ve worked with multiple solutions over the years, each deploying its own stand-alone presence, with pros and cons,” says Paul Mahon, director of construction and maintenance for TCAPS. “Installing a district-wide solution that’s easy to use, scalable, and supports our multiple levels of security ensures the safety of our students and staff, which was the number one priority for this project.”
According to Mahon, since the security upgrade, there have been instances where school property was reported missing, and those trained to use the system monitored, reviewed, and recorded the event. The digital evidence was quickly and easily exported from the Milestone system and provided to the local police department with a built-in viewer.
“At times, we have dealt with vandalism, instances of theft or other security issues regarding publicly owned property outside the school environment. We can easily show the footage to the accused and police to quickly turn around the situation. We are extremely confident in our system and trust that we are keeping the school and all of those in attendance safe. XProtect is really well put together, powerful software. It meets our complicated needs and we have been very happy with the outcome,” Mahon said.
