How License Plate Recognition Enhances School Security

The 2023-2024 school year saw a growing number of false threats in El Paso, TX, schools. Whether the danger is real or a false alarm, these situations tie up important law enforcement resources, disrupt the school environment, and result in fearful students, parents, and staff. To enhance protection and mitigate unnecessary effort, schools are looking into proactive security measures. 

These security tactics are far better than reactive measures that occur after an event has happened, and they provide peace of mind for students and their families. Integrating license plate recognition (LPR) security camera software is one of these measures. Let’s explore the benefits of this proactive measure and why more schools are adding it to their security plans.

SEE ALSO: Debunking the Myths About Video Surveillance in Schools

Integrating LPR Into the System

Many AI-enhanced security cameras support LPR, which means it may integrate directly into your existing video surveillance system. This illustrates one of the reasons why a scalable system that’s highly compatible with existing technology is essential for schools. 

This advanced software can read license plates correctly over 95% of the time, even in poor conditions, such as low lighting and stormy weather. These cameras are typically high-resolution pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) that can adjust and focus on license plates. Bullet cameras also possess powerful zoom capabilities. With infrared capabilities, they can even zoom in and read license plates at night and in complete darkness.

The Benefits to Schools

This system captures every license plate entering and exiting the property, giving you real-time knowledge regarding who exactly is on school grounds. It compares captured license plates to watch lists and records of people who should not be on the property. These may be past offenders, parents who have been denied custody rights, and people who have been prohibited from entering school grounds. 

Should an unauthorized vehicle enter, security and administrators receive an immediate alert and a screenshot of the car. If integrated into the access control system, they can lock down the school grounds as a proactive measure until the person’s identification can be verified. 

This approach enables a quick response, enabling them to keep the person from entering the buildings. The system can also identify and verify parents when they wait in the car line to pick up their children.

Tuning Into SECURED

The challenges we face at our schools today are many. Still, we continue to turn to technology, security personnel, teachers, parents, and students as we develop new approaches to school safety. At ASAP Security Services, we started the SECURED podcast as a way to connect all parties and create an open discussion on enhanced safety measures. 

Recent discussions include “The Importance of Human Interaction in Security Measures” and “Why Phone Systems Fail in School Emergencies.”

To learn more about integrating license plate recognition into your schools or to schedule a security site survey, contact ASAP Security Services today.