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Video Surveillance for Universities
- Trends
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“Universities must provide a safe place to study and work and protect against
vandalism, theft, sexual assault and other forms of
violence.”
Contents01 Executive summary
02 Introduction
03 Traditional security trends
04 University security challenges and trends
05 Current technology trends
06 Case study: Mount Royal University
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01. Executive summary Australian universities are a unique security environment. Campuses are open public spaces, occupied at all hours by students and staff. Students may be from other countries and away from Australia for the first time.
The security department is the public face of the university’s duty of care. The university must provide a safe place to study and work and protect against vandalism, theft, sexual assault and other forms of violence. In addition to the severe impact on victims, the reputation of the university is also important. In an era of social media and connectivity, any issues can rapidly damage a university’s good name and discourage future enrolments.
Traditional security approaches do not get the best possible value from the existing investments in video surveillance networks because there are too many feeds to review. The volume of data from hundreds of cameras is overwhelming. Also, security staff are very busy with a range of duties and generally don’t have time to constantly monitor video feeds.
Older security technologies are now at end of life. There are potential cost savings and improved functionality available by upgrading to newer technologies such as video analytics. Video analytics can help to identify predefined events by manually setting up a series of rules.
More advanced AI powered approaches such as iCetana are being used by leading universities (such as Mount Royal University) to automatically monitor their camera networks for any unusual activity. iCetana automatically learns what is normal without predefined rules. This type of solution offers improved security whilst reducing excessive work and fatigue in the security team.
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02. IntroductionStudents and faculty expect Australian campuses to be safe places at all times. The security departmentworks tirelessly to make this happen.
Security on campus is very topical due to growing awareness of sexual assault on campus and concernsfrom parents of overseas students. At the same time, video surveillance, if incorrectly used, can raise privacy concerns.
Although the security team is often regarded as a facilities function, in fact it is part of the highly visiblepublic face of the university and plays an important role in protecting both people and the university’sreputation.
Video surveillance is a key part of campus security and is already installed at virtually all university campuses. Usually the security guards are too busy with their daily work to sit and monitor cameras. Inany case, it is very difficult to pick up an event when there are hundreds of cameras to monitor. Video surveillance ends up being used only after the event, when it is too late.
Surveillance technology is now rapidly evolving. AI video analytics solutions automatically monitor cameras, allowing university security teams to intervene as events occur, and even find precursor events.This technology does not replace security staff, but helps them be even more effective. Adopting this newtechnology has the potential to substantially improve the capabilities of the security department.
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The security department is traditionally seen as a premises function. The security department focuses on access control, coordination of emergency response and safety of students. Security also provides a visible presence on campus, particularly with uniformed guards who patrol the campus and provide escorts as needed.
Guards in the security operations centre are always busy assisting with multiple routine requests for service, as well as monitoring for critical events and responding.
Extensive video surveillance networks are used to provide coverage of the campus interior and exterior. Due to the number of service requests, the security operations centre does not have time to intensively monitor every single camera for unusual events. Cameras are mainly deployed as a deterrent (although multiple studies show that cameras have a very low deterrent value because criminals know that the cameras are generally not monitored).
The camera network is relegated to provide visibility of identified events and forensic review of events (such as assaults or robberies) rather than to allow timely intervention by security staff.
03. Traditional security approaches
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Changes in technology
and awareness of personal safety means that
students and faculty require even more from campus security.
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The core mission of the security department remains relevant and critical, but changes in technology and awareness of personal safety means that students and faculty require even more from campus security. This has lifted the profile of campus security. Whilst its position in the organisational structure is unchanged, security is a key part of protecting the university’s reputation.
Students embrace mobile technology. Students expect to be able to contact the security department at any time, receive notification of critical events and are prepared to provide location information. Some Australian universities are using mobile apps that students can install to help connect them with the security department.
Technology also allows students, parents and the public to rapidly share information and opinions, through social media. Since information on every aspect of a university’s reputation is online, a poor safety reputation may damage enrolments. Safety is a critical part of a university’s reputation, especially for overseas students.
Australian universities actively enrol fee paying overseas students. These students are sent to Australia by their parents, and generally haven’t lived away from home before. Parents are justifiably concerned about safety of their children in a new environment, in a different country. Parents work with brokers to select the university based on reputation with geographic location being a far lower priority (since they can send their children to any city, or to another country if necessary as easily as to a specific Australian university). If a university has reputation issues due to incidents on campus, this information is likely to affect future enrolments.
Growing awareness of the prevalence of sexual assault on campus has focused public attention on what universities are doing to protect students. This is a complex issue which cannot be fixed by just a security response, but the security department is a key part of the university response.
Despite the importance of the security department to the safety and reputation of the campus, and growing demands on the team, head counts are not being increased. Since the team often have a number of duties, there is not generally much time to review the video surveillance network. One other confounding factor is growing sensitivity to pervasive camera surveillance, and the balance between security and student privacy.
04. University security challenges and trends
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Previous generation security solutions (such as magnetic stripe cards and analog CCTV and older IP cameras) are now at end of life. Campuses are now taking advantage of the benefits of newer technology as obsolete technology is replaced. In many cases, this also gives the opportunity to replace old high-cost maintenance contracts.
The main technology trend in security is the mainstream usage of video analytics to help identify critical events as they occur so that security guards on patrol can intervene. This is change in mindset from the old approach of relying on cameras as a deterrent. This trend is driven by advances in computer vision and machine learning. Video analytics relies on having a modern surveillance infrastructure in place, including recent IP cameras.
However, most video analytics solutions are not yet sophisticated. Usually, they simply display video when a person enters the view of a particular camera, or crosses an invisible line. Video analytics solutions may improve the effectiveness of the security team, but any promises of labour savings must be taken with a pinch of salt.
More advanced analytics solutions can detect someone openly carrying a weapon (such as a pistol or assault rifle). However, since gun violence in uncommon on Australian campuses, this is of limited value. Other video analytics solutions require operators to setup and maintain detailed rules. These systems have limited flexibility and require more time and maintenance expense than most campus security offices can provide.
Very advanced AI solutions such as iCetana (a system first developed at Curtin University in Perth) can identify unusual activity of any type. This solution learns what is normal for a given camera view for different situations over two weeks, then can identify any abnormal movement patterns. iCetana then continues to update every day to learn any new patterns.
Unusual scenes are displayed for human assessment on a LiveWall™. Only about 1% of scenes need to be displayed. This reduces security guard overwork and fatigue, and ensures that the most important video scenes can be rapidly assessed and acted on. Also, it allays student concerns about lack of privacy, as only critical events are shown.
Unlike systems that rely on human alerts, advanced AI solutions can identify precursor events (such as people gathering for a fight, or someone casing a site before a break-in). This allows for early security response.
05. Current technology trends
ABNORMAL BEHAVIOUR DETECTED BY iCETANA DISPLAYED ON LIVE WALL™
“The main technology trend in security is the mainstream
usage of video analytics to help identify critical events as they
occur so that security guards on patrol can intervene.”
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06. Case studyiCetana deployed at Mount Royal University
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CASE STUDY
SNAPSHOT
EDUCATION: TERTIARY EDUCATION• 14,258 students• Approx 3million sqft• Over 512 classrooms• 1850 offices• Security operates 24/7• iCetana Partner: Delco Security
GOALIncrease the effectiveness of campus security without increasing security personel.
RESULTSMRU are leaders in this area and now have this secure network of high-quality cameras feeding into a single platform, which is very robust and expandable Mount Royal University has better eyes and is protecting people and safeguarding assets.
OPERATIONAL SITUATION AND SECURITY CHALLENGE
Mount Royal University was founded in 1910 and has 14,000 students and is based in Calgary, Canada.
Mount Royal Security Services recognised that a single operator can’t review hundreds of cameras and that the iCetana solution of showing only abnormal activities would increase the effectiveness of surveillance.
“Study after study shows that a single operator can basically only look at two cameras,” explains Peter Davison, director of Security Services. “Now, the dispatcher sitting at the console is no longer looking at 300 images at a time. This has allowed them to concentrate on just the certain things that pop up.” As part of the efforts to improve security capabilities, Mount Royal installed iCetana software by an iCetana Partner Delco Security in Canada.
KEY PERSONNEL• Grant Sommerfeld Associate Vice-President of Facilities• Peter Davidson Director of Security Services• Candice Merrill Manager of Security Services
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CASE STUDY
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USE CASES AND RESULTS
iCetana learns and recognizes shapes, sizes and movement — not people or specific objects — and it can’t differentiate between people. It learns what’s normal when students are on campus and when they’re not, weekday versus weekend, day and night. When it detects an anomaly, it switches immediately from a black screen to a live feed of the situation for the dispatcher to see.
Security Services can determine how much or how little the system will react to, Davison explains. “We can adjust the sensitivity of it to catch more or less of what’s happening at a given location or time of day. We have a completely different environment at night, so pretty much any movement at night brings up the live feed.”
For example if an active assailant walked down Main Street with a weapon, for example, the system would immediately notice the sudden, hurried movement of all the people (as pixels) around that person because that wouldn’t be normal.
“As that assailant kept walking down Main Street, each of the cameras would start popping up with the live feed because other the people around him would continue to be reacting differently,” says Candice Merrill, manager of Security Services.
To use another example, the system won’t show the normal flow of people walking into East Gate, but it would flag pixelated people running, dispersing or standing still. It would also flag a scuffle or people sitting instead of walking — anything that’s not normal for that location.
Calgary’s Mount Royal University is turning to artificial intelligence technology to make the school safer and allow security officers to catch criminals in the act. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Mount Royal University CREDIT THE CANADIAN PRESS.
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CASE STUDY
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Similarly, the system pops up a live feed when it sees a truck where a car usually goes. It also reacts to pedestrians in parking lots and to people carrying or pulling unusual objects, such as a suitcase. It flagged a man who fell outside the EA building and couldn’t call for help. Security was able to get to him right away.
“The first day we installed iCetana, it caught a vehicle doing donuts in the parking lot and it caught some guys play-fighting on the third floor,” notes Merrill.
“Before, with the cameras cycling, and the person on dispatch answering phones and questions, and dispatching people, we probably wouldn’t have seen those things. We may not go to all of those situations, but at least we have an option now because we know it’s happening instead of it being reported after,” she says.
“Several large local organisations are coming to campus to see it in action, something Security Services is proud of.”
“We are leaders in this area. We now have this secure network of high-quality cameras feeding into a single platform, which is very robust and expandable.” Sommerfeld adds, “What it’s doing in tight financial times is leveraging resources on tight budgets. We don’t have the people to be out and about but we have this and it helps us a lot.”
“The bottom line,” he says, “is that we do have better eyes. We’re protecting people and safeguarding assets.”
“We are leaders in this area. We now have this secure network of high-
quality cameras feeding into a single platform, which is very robust and
expandable.”
AUSTRALIA | AMERICAS | MEA | UK/EU
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