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Holmes ramps campus security with new cameras
With 200 surveillance cameras now installed on the Goodman Campus with 24/7 monitoring, campus safety has improved dramatically since the completion of the spring semester, according to Goodman Campus Police Chief Tony McDaniel.
The cameras, located in all seven dormitories and their exteriors along with major parking lots, are monitored from the Goodman Campus Police Station located next to Attala Hall. In the surveillance room, nine 48-inch monitors can be seen all at one time. Each monitor has 16 views, which gives the security officer view of 144 cameras at one time. The security officer can click on a certain view and it will expand the view to the full width of the 48-inch monitor.
"We have security that walks through the dorms but by having up to 144 views at one time you can the entire dorm from one setting while a person on foot can only see the area they are in at the time," McDaniel said. "The cameras are like taking one person and turning it into 10 people."
McDaniel said the dorm view is crucial with 600 dorm students on the Goodman Campus. "These cameras allow us to see unwanted visitors in the dormitories," he said. "For instance, if there's a male in a female dorm or vice versa."
"The exterior cameras are something that I'm excited about," he added. "They can see pretty much the entire campus from one chair. If there is movement in the parking lots, they are going to see it, and they can dispatch the police officer over there. It's not going to stop everything that happens. It's pretty easy to see someone walking across the parking lot because there's not supposed to be anything moving after a certain time."
All video footage is stored on a server so police officers will be able to go back and view a certain area of campus if an incident takes place.
McDaniel said plans are for more cameras to be installed on the Goodman Campus. Grenada, Kosciusko and Ridgeland also have cameras with a security officer monitoring those during working hours. Four more monitors will be installed soon so the Goodman Campus can monitor the cameras from the other campuses after hours. "If something is being tampered with, they (the Goodman security officer) can contact the local police officers."
The software used comes from Milestone Systems, headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark. Milestone is a world-leading provider of open platform IP video management software with an objective of improving their clients' organizational processes and increasing overall security through the management and distribution of digital video data.
IT specialists on each campus are certified through Milestone and are responsible to see that the cameras are in installed correctly and are in working order.
IN THIS PHOTO: Goodman Police Chief Tony McDaniel poses with the 200 surveillance cameras now installed on the Goodman Campus. Save
