SAFE


SCHOOLS I


By Jack Kohane


ncident #1: Twelve thefts occurred on campus. In all cases no witnesses observed the crimes and no suspects have been identified. The most note- worthy theft was a plasma television taken from the medical school.


Incident #2: A college staff member dis- covered approximately 100 pre-paid parking passes had been stolen from in- side a secured fourth floor office. Value of the loss: $500.


18 SECURITY MATTERS • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010


Incident #3: Two student-age females were observed attempting to carry a couch out of a school building, but fled upon being seen by others. About 20 minutes later a custodian reported seeing two males walking up the street with the same couch, however, they could not be located when security arrived. Police were contacted and are investigating. These are just a sample of the acts of campus crime that have exploded with in- creasing frequency onto the front pages,


spurring governments and school boards across Canada to make safe schools a top priority. With every schoolyard incident of crime, the need to address crime among children and youth intensifies.


“There’s always a general level of con- cern for the safety of everyone on school property,” says Jim Smith, controller of cor- porate support services for the Peel District School Board, one of Canada’s largest public school boards serving more than 150,000 students (kindergarten to grade 12) in 235 schools across Peel Region, sit- uated just northwest of Toronto, Ont. Un- derlining that a comprehensive security strategy is the best defence against crime, Smith observes that technology is playing a leading role in that drive, saying, “CCTV cameras are now in all our secondary schools, numbering between 30 to 60 cameras per facility.” Elementary schools in the Peel District are also equipped with alarm systems, and front doors are moni- tored from the principal’s office for con- trolled entry.


Over the years, there is no doubt that the layout and type of interior surveillance system used in schools have changed


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