Avigilon, a provider for HD and megapixel video surveillance systems, announced that Walsall Academy in the U.K. has deployed the Avigilon HD surveillance system to safeguard its 1,150 secondary students and protect high-value areas such as its technology and music suites. Recognized for its exemplary student behavior, Walsall Academy selected Avigilon HD surveillance system for its ability to improve the performance of its existing analog-based system and extend coverage across campus to create a comfortable environment.
Avigilon, a provider for HD and megapixel video surveillance systems, announced that Walsall Academy in the U.K. has deployed the Avigilon HD surveillance system to safeguard its 1,150 secondary students and protect high-value areas such as its technology and music suites. Recognized for its exemplary student behavior, Walsall Academy selected Avigilon HD surveillance system for its ability to improve the performance of its existing analog-based system and extend coverage across campus to create a comfortable environment.
“Limited by budget, we chose to upgrade the Avigilon VMS platform to enhance system management and improve image quality of the existing surveillance infrastructure,” said Adrian Bowater, Director of Finance at Walsall Academy. “The surveillance system is critical to our ability to track students' behavior, reduce horseplay and petty theft and has had an impact on student behavior across campus.”
Administrators manage the hybrid surveillance system using Avigilon VMS. The Academy installed Avigilon HD cameras to monitor main entrances, parking lots and corridors, cloak rooms and technology suites and also installed Avigilon analog video encoders to boost the performance of its existing analog-based cameras which are located throughout the interior of the school. An NVR stores up to six weeks of continuous surveillance video, which could only store seven days of footage. The Avigilon HD surveillance system operates around the clock and is monitored live by administrators during the day and remotely by key users if necessary.
Enhanced image quality and functionality have improved overall security at the Academy, causing a ripple effect amongst students and contributing to good overall behavior. Because of its interface and management, Walsall Academy has been able to train more users on the surveillance system to share the workload and achieve greater investigative success. Users can search for details in a third of the time previously required and can export video to share with local law enforcement. By leveraging its fixed assets and improving the performance of its analog cameras, the Academy has saved installation and maintenance costs and was able to upgrade to HD surveillance for the same cost as simply adding analog cameras.
“Student safety has become a top priority for England's Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (OFSTED,) which carries out hundreds of school inspections each week,” said Alexander Fernandes, President and CEO of Avigilon.