Should surveillance cams be in our schools?
In case you missed the news, Ontario’s York Region District School Board has announced it will expand its digital surveillance in their schools. Here’s a Q&A on the topic. What are your thoughts about cameras on your kids?
Sync caught up with Vy Hoang, executive vice president of sales and marketing at the Toronto-based i³ International, to chat about this controversial announcement.
Sync: Hi Vy, thanks for your time. I read that you said ”cameras in schools are here to stay.” Why is there a need for it?
Vy Hoang: Canadian schools are generally very safe but cameras add another element of security for students and staff, for a relatively low cost. Criminal acts caught on video can be shared with police. Cameras also act as a deterrent for theft and vandalism of school property. And in the extremely rare situation of a school lock-down, security cameras provide the authorities with eyes inside the building.
Sync: What are some of the privacy concerns and how does York Region address those?
Hoang: The school board is extremely concerned with protecting its students’ privacy. Our software encrypts all out-going data so outsiders can’t access video. Additionally, there is an automatic record of each time an authorized user accesses video. The board is also exploring using an advanced version of the face-blurring technology built into the i3 DVRs [digital video recorders] to address privacy.
Sync: How widespread is the use of surveillance cameras for this school district, at present?
Hoang: At present we have i³ IP [Internet protocol] DVRs and cameras in 109 of the board’s schools. In the interests of keeping down costs we have also integrated the existing analog cameras into the system, although we retrofit a number of schools with new devices each year. We are currently updating the cameras in 25 schools as well as installing cameras in four brand new schools. Where feasible, these cameras are being tied into motion-sensitive lights to discourage vandalism and theft, after hours.
Sync: Can you talk about some of the advanced features offered, such as an automated way to find out how long the PVRs have been recording, who last accessed them, and so on? And why is this important?
Hoang: Our Central Monitoring Software allows for the board to keep check of system status (ie. proper functioning) but also tracks who accessed the system. It was important to the board that this “health monitoring” software be easy to use and accessible remotely. That way, fewer people are required to manage the system, keeping operational costs reasonable. And fewer people managing the system also reduce the risk of privacy breaches.
Sync: You’ve mentioned i³ International is a “leader” in digital video technology. What are their credentials?
Hoang: i³ International began as an installation company in 1990 and grew into a manufacturer of IP digital video technology, video analytics, and POS data management integration. i³ is at the forefront of video analytics research and has even received grants from the Federal Research Council.
Sync: Thank you, Vy.
Readers, are you concerned about many surveillance cameras in schools? Do you think we’re inching towards Big Brother or are cameras the lesser of two evils? Do you feel safer with cameras on the kids?
I give up :)perfection shall never be my domain. sigh.
why is this topic even on here. every high school in my school district, catholic or public have cameras installed, in the hallways and outside.
I’m a new teacher of grades two and three. I would love to have cameras in and around my school. Not only would it protect the students from bullying, it would protect the teachers too! You wouldn’t believe the number of times I’ve had to break up fights and have been injured several times. The parents of some of these bully children don’t believe the school/teachers that their child is misbehaving. Video evidence would be great!
On another hand, it would also be an effective teaching tool for students and teachers!
“Cameras in the schools” – a very hot topic. I have read the comments and I can relate to both sides of the argument.
“What’s the problem if you have nothing to hide” is a valid perspective.
“What if the camera controllers become villains themselves” is also a valid concern.
I’m For the latter: Video Cameras in schools can give enormous amounts of information about people for selling ideas, products, and services. The groups that desire this info are extremely powerful. I believe “they” will definitely get this camera footage and study it to sell ideas, products, and services to the masses.
I understand the “What’s the problem if you have nothing to hide” perspective. But, if these people can picture for a minute – the most powerful people in the world – (literally “culture creators” – they are so powerful) at huge meetings, together, with the video footage, studying “the human”, to successfully sell ideas, services, and products. Can you not see how disturbing this is and how this can possibly happen? So, one may think – well, I simply don’t believe the camera footage will be misused by strange powerful groups of people to better sell ideas, products, and services. Ok – but consider this – What if it is possible, that, corporations we’ll say, will get access to this “security” video footage for very non-security reasons? Do you realize how easy it would be for big money to get all the school video camera footage? If this is true – it is a very big concern, don’t you think?
I’m already of the belief that very powerful groups of people are in the business of gathering the masses private information. I also think it’s been going on for decades and perhaps centuries. These same power groups, I believe, are responsible for leading humanity into a very unnatural direction. More access to this info will only make it worse. Teenage culture is so vulnerable to this too. “They” are desperately looking for more human info on teenage culture.
Yes, the cameras will be good for catching bullies, bad teachers, and other school crimes. However, if what I described above is true, then I firmly believe that video footage in the schools, while deterring some school crimes, will actually be fueling some much bigger and more serious crime – the kind of crime that effects billions of people, which is: the improper use of social engineering to fulfill an agenda that only satisfies the few and not the many.
Cameras are a JOKE in schools. My child was attacked in his high school, and caught on camera. What we learned from the experience was- as long as it is the first offence committed by that student, and he was a student in good standing before the incident, the charges will not stick. Camera or no camera our children are not protected in school, they only lead to a false sense of security. Also if my child was to defend himself, even strick the offender even once, then it would have been a consensual fight.
The truth of the matter is security cameras look and see what’s going on. They DO NOT make a place more secure–remember Columbine and all the pictures we got from surveillance cameras there? Furthermore, much to chagrin of the person who said it, metal detectors won’t prevent anything either–they just detect the presence of weapons—why would someone carry a weapon, with intent of using it for malicious purposes, be deterred by these detectors.
The fact of the matter is that society is SAFER than it has ever been. The fact that people note so many deaths by violence is attributable partly because of the fact fewer people die nowadays because of scientific advancement and people are duped by the gross exaggeration of crime in the media–so what does that leave? Natural causes, accidents, remaining untreatable/hard to treat maladies, and violence.
Nothing can make people take leave of their reason faster than fear–he who would sacrifice liberty for temporary (and the illusion) of security, deserves neither liberty nor security. The simple fact of the matter is crime occurs in society and will continue to occur. We must continue in common law tradition (not mention get back to common law) of holding the individual has the most important one to protect–that is, the individual, has inalienable rights, but with these rights come the responsibility of actions toward others.
So the question is would you like to sacrifice freedom because you can’t take on the responsibility of being an individual or be an automaton in a cookie cutter world. Frankly, if you prefer the latter move to North Korea–this is Canada and we have rights!