“Threats and potential dangers can be found in most neighborhoods throughout the nation. The public schools in those neighborhoods are not immune from the risks that exist beyond its walls. Schools must be vigilant to guard against possible child abductions, sexual assaults, theft and vandalism.
Allowing the appropriate people — students, teachers, staff, parent volunteers and vendors — campus access, while keeping the inappropriate people — sexual predators, kidnappers, thieves and vandals — out, is a challenge that faces virtually all school and university administrators. Every school needs a visitor-management plan that is well-written, well-rehearsed and well-enforced as one of the first steps in protecting people and property.”
- Patrick V Fiel Sr., former executive director of school security, Washington D.C. Public School System
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EXISTING DANGERS
On the U.S. Department of Justice’s online national sex offender public registry, there are approximately 500,000 registered sex offenders, many of whom live within walking distance of neighborhood campuses and schools. These numbers include only those that have been arrested and convicted.
Over 700 child abductions are reported in the nation each day, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Many of these are taken by a relative — usually a parent who has been served with a temporary restraining order during or after a divorce. These children are frequently picked up at school, where someone in the front office is unaware of the court order.
Campus thefts are also common. On many campuses, thieves visit during the day and check out which rooms contain the most valuable equipment. Many times, even during normal school hours, a person carrying a stolen computer can leave without being challenged.
Vandalism (broken windows, graffiti, fires, etc) also causes interruptions in a child's education, and costs school systems nationwide millions of dollars each year.
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THE BASICS
In a basic visitor-management plan, a school should:
Limit the number of campus entries. One entry into the campus should be available for students, parents and other visitors. High schools should limit access to a few entry points. During class sessions, those entries should be closed and locked to outsiders.
Assign school resource officers or administrative staff. This should take place at each access point immediately before and after school, and during lunch (if students are permitted to leave campus) to monitor who enters the campus.
Require all teachers and staff to wear a photo ID badge. Staff should wear an ID badge at all times while on the school grounds.
Require that all parents, volunteers, vendors and other visitors register in the office or at the SRO desk. All visitors should show a state-issued identification card, provide a home telephone number, state a reason for being on campus, and note their time of arrival. A school staff member should provide a temporary identification badge that must be worn at all times on campus. Visitors should check out when leaving and return the badge. Regular volunteers can be issued a photo ID badge through the institution.
Instruct all teachers and staff members to immediately challenge anyone seen on campus without an identification badge.
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TECHNOLOGY THAT HELPS
A quality visitor-management system can capture details of an individual's identification, such as a driver's license, passport or business card. That information can be compared against the national sex offender registry or other federal and state crime databases. A check of this type takes only a few seconds. These systems also can take a visitor's picture and print a temporary photo ID badge in less than a minute. This extra level of security makes it more difficult for someone to check into the office and then give a visitor's pass to another person.
Most systems record the exact date and time of a person's arrival and departure, thereby creating a tracking log of the individual's activities. In short, a quality visitor management system should be a part of every visitor management plan and is necessary to achieve adequate security on any school campus.
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QUALITY SOLUTIONS
Many solution integrators can provide you with multiple industry leading solutions for visitor management and predator alert systems. The following is a short list of the functionality of these solutions:
- Swipe a person’s state issued driver’s license to capture that individual’s personal information
- Automatically check a person’s identity against the Department of Justice National Sex Offender Registry Database
- Issue a temporary ID badge
- Create a “Black List” of individuals that should not be allowed on campus
- Flag non-custodial parents, in the event a recently decided custody hearing has designated one parent as custodial or a restraining order has been issued
- Automatically notify security and administrative staff if a sex offender tries to gain access to the school
- Log and time/date stamp visitor activity in a database for reporting
- Issue photo ID badges to regular or “trusted” visitors without swiping their driver’s license each time they visit the school
- Perform a complete background check on an individual (including all criminal records, not just the sex offender registry)
In addition, these solutions can be tailored to fit your specific needs and can be integrated into existing systems, like your current photo ID systems.
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The primary goal on this blog is to provide information about the most comprehensive and affordable solutions on the market today. If you have any questions or would like more information about any of these industry leading solutions please contact me via the contact form at the bottom of this blog.
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