Three Point Plan for Increased School Security

Across the nation, school districts are focusing on the safety and security of their campuses and addressing any concerns. They understand the importance of ensuring the safety of their students and faculty, yet, sometimes the implementation process can seem a bit overwhelming. That is why we have developed our “Three Point Plan” for a safer school district. 

Step 1: Visually Identify People

By implementing a visual identification policy district wide, schools can foster an environment that encourages faculty and staff to question unknown people on their campus. Many schools that we work with are requiring the visual display of identification for all faculty, staff, students and even visitors. This makes it easier to recognize unauthorized visitors in the building. To ensure consistency, make sure faculty and staff can get their photo IDs issued quickly and visitors can check in efficiently. By avoiding complicated software and a long turnaround time for badge issuance, you will greatly improve the success of whatever system you choose.

 

Step 2: Control Entry Points

To aid in identification and security efforts, schools should manage the flow of visitor and faculty traffic through pre-defined entry points. More schools are implementing electronic card access systems to monitor door status and enable easy lockdown campus-wide, if necessary. To better manage traffic flow, schools should design the system to notify them when doors are propped open and make sure that the system is programed to deactivate credentials automatically when a person(s) leaves the district and no longer needs access rights or privileges.  This will help prevent unauthorized users from having access to your campus.

Step 3: Know What Happened

 
Anytime an event occurs in a school district, the school should be able to access real-time information within seconds. Campuses nationwide rely on video surveillance and quality reporting for accurate recall of various occurrences. In order to receive the most accurate and reliable data possible, schools should ensure their system offers fast and easy access to video footage or reporting information and avoid inaccurate data and unknown camera outages.

 Lindsay Cornell is the Director of Sales for BadgePass, Inc. BadgePass manufactures cutting edge Door Access, Photo ID, and Visitor Tracking software. Visit www.badgepass.com for more information.

Tips for Printing Quality Photo IDs

When printing quality Photo IDs, it is important to know what information, and how much information, will be included on your Photo ID. The elements included on your Photo ID will help determine the features you should look for in your Photo ID System.

Basic Photo ID

Custom card design – Photo ID software will help you design a card from scratch using your own images, graphics and logos – creating a unique and custom card that best fits the needs of your organization.

Cardholder information – Easily add cardholder information to your ID cards! You can connect to your existing database information and/or choose to enroll users via Driver’s License Scanning.

Photo – Whether you are looking for high quality images or a simple webcam, adding a photo to your card design will ensure an extra level of security.

Barcode – Barcodes are a cost effective way to include data on your cards that can be scanned and used in other systems, such as time and attendance or cafeteria POS and vending.

Advanced Photo ID

Signature capture – A signature pad will allow you to electronically capture the signature of each cardholder for placement within the card design.

Smartcards – There are many types of technology cards, such as contactless smartcards, that can be store cardholder information for use in other systems, like Access Control.

Magnetic stripe – Magnetic strips are another way to include data on your cards that can be scanned and used in other systems.

Lamination – Laminating printers apply a thin film to the card with heat and pressure during printing to protect against wear.

The more secure you want your credentials to be, the more advanced your Photo ID software requirements will be.  Take all of these things into consideration when choosing which system to implement in your own organization. 

Lindsay Cornell is the Director of Sales for BadgePass, Inc. BadgePass manufactures cutting edge ID Badging, Visitor Management and Access Control software. Visit www.badgepass.com for more information.