East Hampton, NY (PRWEB) October 7, 2006
With the recent tragedies in Pennsylvania and Colorado where an intruder walked easily into a school, took student hostages and fatally shot some of themwe are now in the day and age where more security measures need to be taken within our schools. Keeping our children safe should be top priority.
Something as simple as keeping doors locked from the outside, could have prevented these incidents, Richard L. Soloway, noted security expert and chairman of NAPCO Security Systems, Inc., but there are more advanced security measures that have to be taken.
Soloway has compiled a list of security measures that can be used to keep school children safe:
1. Keep school doors closed and locked from the outside at all times during the school day.
2. Implement Closed Circuit TV surveillance throughout the building, including perimeter/exterior coverage. Have the footage monitored live by security staff, and captured in a time/date-stamped recording for archival review as needed.
3. Install metal detectors and employ a security guard and pass-thru turnstile. Guards should make sure that people or kids that are not employed or enrolled in the school have a set appointment and should be checked for any weapons.
4. Teach children and teachers what to do in an emergency situation. School shootings, fires, or natural disaster drills can be taught at the same time as fire drills are taught.
5. Teach evacuation routes planned and safe areas for children to go to if possible.
6. Maintain one main entry lobby and reception area staffed with trained personnel. Require mandatory guest registration including the guests name, who they are meeting with and time in and out. Some schools even have background check of each person coming in, and also screen guests to see if they come up on the sex offender registry.
7. Implement a temporary badging system to track ALL visitors and service people. Whether its a wearable Visitors Sticker that literally fades out in a given time period or a physical badge which is only temporarily valid for a particular duration of time, per your access systems scheduling program, a specific program must be in place and security staff must be trained to screen all atypical personnel in the premises.
8. Distribute ID badge or register credentials for all permanent, official school occupants including teachers, staff and students. These credentials can range from an ID card with mag-stripe or proximity encoding, to more sophisticated biometric entry readers which compare an entrants fingerprint, retinal scan or hand geometry to one stored on file within the access control systems database of authorized personnel.
9. Have open communication with local police departments. The principal of the school can make sure that local police and fire departments have been to the school prior to any emergency to know the layout of the school. This can be done two times in a school year to keep police and fire departments updated as per the layout.
10. Number all doors that enter the school building. In an emergency, police and fire department personnel will be able to quickly locate an area and respond.
On NAPCO and Chairman Richard L. Soloway: NAPCO Security Systems is a global leader in design and manufacturing of patented electronic and mechanical security systems whose products include intrusion alarms, fire alarms, electronic locking devices and access control systems. Chairman Richard Soloways comments on all aspects of security have appeared in The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune, Business Week, Forbes, Crain’s New York Business, Newsday, Reuters, Chicago Tribune, Entertainment Weekly, Detroit Free Press, Philadelphia Inquirer, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Transcript and The Robb Report among others. NAPCO grosses over $ 65 million in sales. http://www.napcosecurity.com
To interview Richard Soloway on homeland security or another security topic, call WordHampton Public Relations to arrange an interview at 631-329-0050.
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