July 11, 2022
Schools are increasingly turning to technology to protect students and faculty—with video surveillance rated as a high priority among educational experts.
Modern school security goes beyond just video; for instance, many schools are incorporating environmental sensors like the Rhombus E2 to detect vape and smoke on campus.
The Rhombus A100 Audio Gateway is part of this modern wave of education technology. With it, schools gain deeper visibility into their campuses through powerful new tech: intelligent audio analytics.
Here are three ways that schools can improve their emergency response and overall campus safety with the A100.
When it comes to school safety, seconds matter. The A100 allows schools to identify potential threats by detecting specific sounds that may indicate a dangerous situation.
Schools can use the A100 to identify abnormal audio events, including:
For example, the A100 can detect aggressive phrases if a fight or bullying breaks out on campus, or calls for help if a student has a medical emergency.
Emergency alerts are a crucial part of a school's security strategy. In a dangerous situation, the more quickly emergency protocols are initiated, the better.
With the A100 Audio Gateway, schools can trigger emergency alerts and protocols the instant a threat is detected.
When the sensor identifies a potential threat, it immediately sends a live alert. Alerts are fully customizable—so you control who receives which notifications, such as safety officers, faculty, administrators, local authorities, and more. For example, if the A100 detects a potentially dangerous sound—such as glass breaking or cries for help—it can instantly alert the authorities faster than a person manually calling 911.
By combining early threat detection with automatic alerts, schools can notify the correct people more quickly in an emergency. In the event of a serious threat, such as a school shooting, accelerated emergency response can be life-saving.
In addition to audio detection, the A100 provides remote two-way communication—like a modernized intercom. Schools can use the built-in speakers for simple back-and-forth communication, and can also use them proactively for security purposes.
Administrators and safety officers can prerecord messages and alarms for broadcast and set them to automatically trigger when threats are detected. This allows schools to quickly and automatically communicate at scale.
Because remote access is built in, these messages can be issued from anywhere; an officer or administrator does not need to be on campus to trigger an alarm or make a live announcement.
When it comes to school safety, prevention and fast detection of incidents are a high priority. However, if an incident does occur, it’s important to be able to investigate quickly and thoroughly.
The A100 gives schools an extra pair of ears on campus. It provides automatic, 24/7 audio monitoring that’s always listening for abnormal and potentially dangerous situations. Because it can be paired with any Rhombus smart camera, it also gives schools much deeper context and understanding when incidents do occur.
After an incident occurs, schools can use audio-video recordings to gain a much deeper understanding of what happened than what video alone can provide.
This can help schools more effectively:
When an incident occurs on campus, fast investigations are in everyone’s best interest—including students, parents, teachers, and law enforcement in certain scenarios. The A100 not only recognizes abnormal audio events, but also automatically marks them in the video timeline.
This gives schools an additional way to locate important audio-video evidence promptly. For example, if the only evidence of bullying or a fight is students shouting in a classroom, that type of activity may not be detected by video analytics alone—making it difficult to locate evidence of the conflict.
However, the A100 will automatically detect aggressive voices and mark them in the video timeline. This allows schools to quickly find audio-video evidence of the incident, and take appropriate action.
In more serious situations, finding footage faster also allows schools to share footage more promptly with law enforcement and aid ongoing police investigations in a timely manner.
A100 is a powerful new technology that gives schools a proactive way to detect and respond to potential threats on campus. To see firsthand if the A100 can help your school, request a free trial or contact sales@rhombussystems.com.
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