The Skinny:
- The Sedalia School District is using a cloud-based Emergency Response Platform (ERP) to give law enforcement real-time access to school security systems.
- The ERP streamlines credential management, allowing first responders to unlock doors, view surveillance, and initiate lockdowns remotely during emergencies.
- Local agencies, including police, sheriff, and highway patrol, now have designated, secure access to multiple school districts to improve response times and situational awareness.
One area of school security that is vitally important is emergency response, as many schools are working more closely with first responders, including law enforcement, EMT and others, to make it as easy as possible for them to gain access to the school, while providing real-time communication and guidance during an emergency.
The Sedalia School District (Sedalia 200), in Missouri, one of the largest districts in the county with more than 4,500 students in PK-12 facilities (including Sacred Heart School, La Monte R-IV School in neighboring La Monte, Mo., and Greenridge R-VIII), is a great example of a district that is leveraging electronic access control and a cloud management platform to improve emergency response across the district.
The school district has been working with systems integrator Nightwatch Security & Telephone LLC and physical security provider, to manage access control, intrusion detection and video surveillance through Connected Technologies’ Connect ONE cloud management platform, which allows first responders and School Resource Officers (SROs) to view real-time activity at local schools, initiate immediate access, or lock down the protected premises.
Nightwatch is partnering with local law enforcement on implementing an Emergency Response Platform (ERP) that gives police, sheriff and state highway patrol agencies in Sedalia and Pettis County greater accessibility and situational awareness at local school campuses.
“We asked Connected Technologies to develop a simple way to update, administer and input agency officer’s codes/credentials for the schools through Connect ONE,” explained Nightwatch Owner Jeff Kesterson. “They came back with the ERP, which unifies all the school’s individual systems into one interface for viewing, management and control without separate site logins. It goes even further and allows remote locking and unlocking capabilities during critical threats.”
Kesterson points out that first responders, as well as SROs at each school, maintain access with proximity access control key fobs, but updating the devices to stay current with staffing changes was unwieldy. Now, users can manage the fobs and system permissions in one place for all the schools through the ERP. Sedalia 200 school administration manages more than 700 fobs annually, utilizing the Connect ONE platform daily. And because Connect ONE and the ERP is a unified cloud management platform, it not only provides easier access but also increases situational awareness for first responders.
When Every Second Counts
The ERP also provides agencies with a separate login with certain designated permissions for first responders who can only see customer site locations shared by Nightwatch. Using the emergency dashboard, first responders can login to view cameras (where implemented), unlock doors and outputs, activate task functions, initiate lockdown and view recent activity.
The Sedalia Police Department has access to schools within the city limits, which includes Sedalia 200 and their 10 schools plus administration and maintenance buildings and Sacred Heart School. The Pettis County Sheriff’s Office has access to Sedalia 200 schools and buildings; Sacred Heart School; La Monte R-IV; and Greenridge R-VIII school districts. The Missouri State Highway Patrol A has access to the same schools as the Pettis County Sheriff’s Office.
The ERP allows Nightwatch to easily set up various zones of jurisdiction, giving first responders access to the schools they are obligated/expected to respond to an emergency. Of the four school districts using the ERP, all except Sacred Heart School provide both door access control and camera viewing/playback to the departments with access.
Commander Joshua Howell, Operation’s Support Bureau, Sedalia Police Department, said the ERP is a huge timesaver, and allows the department to administer key fob credentials, streamlining the process when personnel access requires modification. “Ease of administering credentials was important and adding or removing personnel from the system was clunky before the ERP. Instead of logging into all the school systems separately, we can look at everything in one place,” he said.
Howell added that the platform allows authorities to unlock doors if an emergency responder doesn’t have a proximity device, saving time as opposed to dispatching a patrol officer to the scene.
The Pettis County Sheriff’s Office is also leveraging the ERP for enhanced accessibility and response readiness.
“This has been a great tool for us,” said Sergeant John Cline, SRO Unit Supervisor, Pettis Co. Sheriff’s Office. “We’re continuing to build it out and have integrated it into our school safety planning. Being able to remotely manage key fobs and initiate lockdowns — there’s substantial benefit to having that immediate control.”
The Sheriff’s Office has jurisdiction over 650 square miles in the county, including Sedalia and several smaller cities. It manages some 40 key fob credentials issued to patrol officers and SROs assigned to the schools. SROs serve the daily law enforcement needs of the schools, but if they aren’t available to provide access in an emergency, the ERP provides that function in real-time.
“Our schools recognize the importance of having a close relationship with law enforcement,” noted Sgt. Cline. “Being able to get into a building quickly when seconds count has made the relationship that much stronger.”
Nightwatch provided training on the interface to the departments, and Sgt. Cline said it was intuitive and easy to grasp in a one-hour session.
“The Emergency Response Platform allows Connect ONE dealers to partner with local law enforcement by providing the tools they need to defuse an emergency quickly and effectively with powerful information to view and control facility security,” said Dan Simon, co-founder, Connect ONE. “It’s a great solution to assist in public safety while also ensuring you keep a customer long-term.”
Other benefits to the Emergency Response Platform include:
· A single application screen to add or remove agency personnel system codes/access credentials from shared customer systems.
· System codes are included in profile templates, so permissions come pre-defined for simple additions by the agency.
· Permissions may only be modified by the dealer to prevent misconfiguration; customers will maintain the ability to view the permissions without making changes.
· Activity by agency personnel is reviewable by the customer in reporting and notifications.
