The Asbury Park Press today has a feature article about new security systems installed at the Red Bank primary and middle schools.
The high-tech system uses swipe cards to control access to the buildings and video cameras that enable borough police station to get a live look at what’s going on as needed.
From the article:
A new high-tech security system went live in January, and it allows police to access live camera feeds remotely from the schools. It also allows staff to gain access to the building using swipe cards, which can be set individually by the day, time and person to grant or limit entry, said Ann Darrow, business administrator.
The security system has a total of 51 cameras at the Middle School and 16 at the primary school, said Tom Berger, director of facilities.
“It has live feeds. If the police get an alarm (in the school) on the weekend, they can dial in,” Berger said.
The system has high-resolution cameras, which also have a 30-day storage system that allows school officials to access images from an individual camera at a particular time, he said. Berger demonstrated the picture clarity by calling up images taken on a camera in the Primary School lobby when school opened. The video was clear enough to see images through the windows of teachers walking children up to the entrance.
Access to the camera and security systems computers requires use of two passwords, Berger said.
Work on installation began in November and some software upgrades were done before it went live, Berger said.
“It’s a more sophisticated system than we had in past years,” said Laura C. Morana, superintendent of schools.
Officials had considered installing the old middle school camera system in the primary school, but found it was cheaper to install a new camera system, Berger said.
