Why security technologies?

To reduce problems of crime or violence in schools: (1) the opportunities for security infractions should be eliminated or made more difficult to accomplish, (2) the likelihood of being caught must be greatly increased, and (3) consequences must be established and enforced. Item 3 is a social and political issue and needs to be addressed head on by school boards and communities across the country. This guide addresses only items 1 and 2.

Simply providing more adults, especially parents, in schools will reduce the opportunities for security infractions and increase the likelihood of being caught. However, adding dedicated professional security staff to perform very routine security functions has many limitations:

• Locating qualified people may be difficult.
• Humans do not do mundane tasks well.
• Manpower costs are always increasing.
• Turnover of security personnel can be detrimental to a security program.
• As in other security environments, more repetitious tasks become boring.

Hence, the possible role of security technologies expands. Through technology, a school can introduce ways to collect information or enforce procedures and rules that it would not be able to afford or rely on security personnel to do.