Introduction

Based in Pataskala, Ohio – just 20 minutes outside of Columbus – Licking Heights is one of the fastest-growing Ohio school districts. The K-12 district includes six buildings, for a total enrollment of more than 5,000 students. As the district continues to grow, student safety is becoming an increasingly important yet challenging task. 

Challenge

Brian Evans, the Safety and Security Supervisor for Licking Heights Local Schools, was looking for solutions that would enable his team to better respond to instances of vandalism, theft, and unauthorized property access issues throughout the school district. He had already deployed door alert systems and over 500 video cameras inside and outside of schools in his district, but believed there was still a gap in his security plan – knowing instantly when an at-risk person entered school property. ‍

Solution

Evans was initially not aware of how substantially License Plate Recognition (LPR) could improve the district’s existing security protocols. After talking to the Pataskala Police Department – the primary supporting law enforcement agency for Licking Heights School District – they shared that they had recently implemented Flock Safety Falcon™ LPR cameras following the success that neighboring police departments had with helping solve crimes. 

After learning more about how Flock Safety could help his district better partner with the PD to increase public safety in the community, as well as better track when known offenders may be on campus, Evans decided to deploy four Flock Safety Falcon® LPR cameras around the perimeter of the Licking Heights High School and Middle School during summer break to test their capabilities. 

Results

As Licking Heights School District faculty and administration began to return to campus in preparation for the upcoming school year, they were excited to learn about Flock Safety. Evans noted that upon explaining the system to them many remarked that “they liked it a lot,” and were pleased that the school district had bolstered security measures over the summer. 

He sees Flock Safety’s solutions benefitting Licking Heights Schools in two major ways:

Keeping known offenders off campus:

‍Among Evans’ primary concerns are preventing sex offenders, trespassers, and unauthorized parents from entering school property. With Flock Safety’s Hot List feature and real-time alerts, Evans’ team can take swift action should an incident arise. For example, he shared: “We have parents that aren’t supposed to be around their children and aren’t supposed to be on school property while their kid is in the building or on the property at that time… And that’s something where we can see what kind of vehicle they drive, put that in a list for us, and notify the local police department as well. So if they do come on the property, we’re notified pretty quickly and we can take action as needed.” Before implementing Flock Safety, this would have been a nearly impossible task as the Safety and Security team would have no way to know who is coming in or going out of their parking lots at any given time.  

Strengthening the relationship with local law enforcement:

‍Evans believes that one of Flock Safety’s biggest advantages is its built-in partnership with law enforcement. He commented: “...The cameras that you guys have, they run the plates through NCIC and notify the police department directly in that jurisdiction. And I think that’s a perfect and a huge direct line to the PD that, [otherwise], it may take us hours to figure out that’s a car that shouldn’t be here or that’s a stolen vehicle.” Flock Safety’s integration into the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) enables the system to provide alerts when vehicles associated with wanted criminals, including sex offenders, dangerous warrants, missing persons, violent criminal gang members and more pass by a Flock Safety Falcon® LPR camera.

Mitigating privacy concerns:

Evans expressed little concern about privacy when it came to implementing Flock Safety. He felt that the company’s solutions provided a number of built-in safeguards to ensure student and faculty privacy was protected. These include: only capturing objective vehicle data with no facial recognition, data is not used for traffic enforcement, a short 30 day data retention period, all data captured is solely owned by the school district and will never be sold or shared, and a required search reason for audit trail.

Overall, Evans has been very impressed with the effectiveness of Flock Safety’s system. So much so that in just weeks of being implemented, he made the decision to deploy additional Flock Safety Falcon™ LPR cameras throughout the rest of the school district. 

Conclusion

Evans shared that since implementing Flock Safety, he’s already had three other school districts in central Ohio reach out for advice and recommendations. He believes schools in both urban and rural settings can benefit from deploying a virtual Flock Safety Falcon™ LPR perimeter, noting: “It’s just another layer of safety for these kids and these staff members. And the community – knowing that these kids are safe and that we’re doing everything we can to prevent these kinds of things happening in our schools and certain people coming on our property that should not be there.” 

Licking Heights School District, like dozens of others across Ohio, kick-started their investment in Flock Safety by leveraging Attorney General Dave Yost’s recently unveiled technology innovation grant. Grants must be used “for technology that links schools with law enforcement agencies for improved safety, crime prevention and response,” making Flock Safety Falcon® LPR an attainable solution for any Ohio K-12 district. As Evans concludes, “Hopefully school districts catch on because it’s only going to protect kids in the community even more.”

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