Hanwha Vision enhances overall security of Putnam City School District

For Mark Stout, Chief of Police for the Putnam City School District, every day is an education in the newest security and surveillance technologies.
 
With 28 schools and 10 administrative facilities spread across 43 square miles of the Oklahoma City Metroplex area, Stout and his team are continually evaluating the district’s security infrastructure to identify new methods for keeping students, faculty and staff safe.
 
For the past several years, those efforts have included replacing aging and outdated security cameras with the latest Hanwha Vision models. As a result, the district is benefitting from a range of new technologies critical for school safety including Artificial Intelligence, multi-view and multi-sensor capabilities, discreet form factors, easy deployment, flexible configuration and A/V analytics for effective data-gathering.
 
Putnam City Schools has deployed security cameras and access control systems for decades. However, recent rapid growth in the student population, heightened school activity levels and expanded campus footprints made upgrading a critical requirement for effective long-term surveillance.
 
The district includes elementary schools, middle schools and high schools with a total of approximately 20,000 students plus about 3,500 teaching, maintenance and operations staff. Each building varies in terms of age, layout, size, facilities and occupancy, meaning the security systems in place must also vary accordingly to keep pace.

Solution

The ongoing upgrade has led to a significant improvement in operational performance and efficiency, situational awareness and a noticeable reduction in on-site incidents. The district’s camera count currently totals about 1,500 Hanwha Vision cameras, a mix of P series AI dome, multi-sensor, panoramic, X series fisheye and PTZ models. More installations planned in the future as the district adds new facilities and expands its current venues.
 
Primary applications for the Hanwha Vision cameras are exterior perimeter monitoring and general building protection, plus monitoring of main traffic areas including hallways or lounges. Stout noted less is often more when it comes to security camera placement and the built-in flexibility of the Hanwha models fit the bill exactly.
 
For example, a camera like the Hanwha PNM-9000 — a multi-view, two-lens camera — is an ideal option for effectively monitoring busy areas throughout Putnam City’s buildings like hallway intersections without requiring obtrusive or conspicuous ceiling-mounted configurations.

Result

The Hanwha Vision AI-based cameras are delivering enhanced facial and object recognition and analytics combined with Deep Learning algorithms to counter any environmental factors — such as waving trees, shadows, or animals — that may trigger a false alarm. Now, campus security is only alerted about potentially suspicious or criminal events, reducing false alarms for more efficient operations and targeted data gathering for use in forensic searches.
 
One of the district’s primary security objectives was standardization of all new security technologies, for device compatibility as well as seamless integration with the Genetec security platform used across Putnam facilities.
 
Integration with the Genetec platform also allows the district to automatically receive the latest firmware updates for all cameras simultaneously, a key factor for guarding against cyber-security threats by always having the latest firmware versions.
 
The Hanwha products also offer Putnam City Schools easy and intuitive use combined with easy deployment for interior or exterior installation in any orientation, whether it’s on a ceiling tile or the side of a building.