By their very nature, large campuses are difficult to secure. Whether it’s a university or college, a hospital or even a corporate organisation, large campus environments tend to feature a variety of buildings and grounds over a large area, or set of areas, each with different functions and security requirements. The challenge is to keep all campus users and visitors safe, and the buildings and grounds secure, all while enabling people to move freely, often on a 24-hour basis.

Today, a range of technology solutions can be used to manage large campus security, from CCTV to access control. Here we explore some of the key attributes of security solutions for large campuses, essential for meeting the challenges they pose.

A unified, integrated approach to campus security

Traditionally, many large campuses have used a mix of separate security technology, added at various points and not designed to work together. Educational institutions and hospitals may have implemented a long list of solutions, such as intercoms, access control, CCTV and emergency phones, but if these are not integrated, incompatibility and limited connectivity can mean they become time-consuming and expensive to manage, and potentially even a threat to overall campus security.

Instead, all security solutions should be part of a single management platform and IP network, enabling each system to communicate with the others and for data to be centralised. This approach greatly increases situational awareness across large campuses, and facilitates instant and campus-wide responsiveness in the event of an incident.

Efficient people management   

Another characteristic of large campus environments is the variety of people who use them on a daily basis. Many campuses welcome a number of visitors each day, as well as a high volume of students, patients, faculty members and staff. These various users have differing needs and access requirements, yet all must be able to move around easily for the campus to run smoothly.

With integrated solutions under a single platform in place, large campus security teams can ensure users are monitored and accounted for while also safeguarding access rights, such as through the use of dual purpose identification badges. Photo ID cards can be used to simultaneously verify individual identity and user type, and to admit or restrict access for specific users to particular buildings or areas via proximity access control reading devices. For example, programmable ID cards can be used to permit cleaning teams full campus access at certain times of the day, limit student access to common areas only, or grant visitors temporary access to a particular building.   

CCTV and central monitoring

CCTV is a must for large campuses; it simply isn’t possible to achieve robust site security without it. A central monitoring hub allows a security manager to observe and record all camera feeds across a campus in one place for total remote visibility.

As for camera equipment, campus security benefits from technology capable of high-definition footage and 360 degree visibility. And, when CCTV footage is stored in the cloud and compressed to the latest standards, universities and hospitals can avoid the cost and physical storage issues that come with backing up to a set of on-site servers.    

The most effective solutions for securing large campuses are achieved when working with the experts. Get in touch with our team today to find out more about our access control and CCTV solutions, and our experience in providing state of the art security solutions for all manner of large campus environments.  

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR – LYNDEN JONES

Lynden joined Touchstar ATC (formally Feedback Data) in a sales role for Access Control in 2010.  Prior to joining the company, Lynden held both Production and Account Manager roles, gaining wide technical and commercial experience within the electronics market.  In 2013 Lynden was promoted to Sales Director and in 2017 he took overall responsibility of the business as Managing Director. As well as running Touchstar ATC, Lynden still remains extremely active in the sales and key account management aspects of the business. When not involved in the business, Lynden is a keen performance car enthusiast.