Issue link: https://securitytechnologyexecutive.epubxp.com/i/656764
50 SECURITY TECHNOLOGY EXECUTIVE • February/March 2016 www.SecurityInfoWatch.com serve as a base of communication between UKPD and people on campus. The police department encourages the use of the Talkaphone products on campus for everything from emergencies to wayfinding. "They are a very visual part of the campus security system rollout. The blue lights stand out across campus," said Sorrell. Not only do the Talkaphone WEBS ® towers house IP emergency call stations, they are also enabled with outdoor broadcasting capabilities. Standing over ten feet tall, these towers provide 360-degree coverage for message broadcasting with four 40 watt speakers producing 123 dBA at one-meter on-axis. The integrated broadcast- ing system gives UKPD the ability to notify stu- dents who may not have signed up for emergen- cy text or email notifications. Since the passing of the Clery Act, universities are required by law to notify students of emergency situations and criminal activity on campus. "What we did was to look at how we could maximize the use of the towers and we chose the tower version that let us have the ability to uti- lize emergency phones that operated on a digital network," added Captain Monroe. "We also chose to have each tower have a camera on top along with using the WEBS [towers] for expanding our emergency notification to the campus instead of installing outdoor loud speakers." CMTA and Talkaphone worked closely with UKPD to determine the best locations for the WEBS towers to ensure the highest number of students, faculty and staff would be reached by the outdoor broadcast capabilities. They researched pedestrian traffic patterns to deter- mine high volume areas in which to deploy the units. As the university expands, these same principles are applied to new installations. The WEBS towers serve as one of the homes for the video analytics UKPD is utilizing; pro- grams such as motion detection and line cross- ing. Line crossing is a VMS analytic program trig- gered when someone approaches the Talkaphone tower and crosses the digital line set by the secu- rity team. This allows the police to see the situa- tion before the button is even pushed. Samuel Shanes, Chairman of Talkaphone, is particularly proud of the deployment at the University of Kentucky. "Our sales and technical teams worked closely with the university teams, as well as their outside consultant, CMTA, in developing the specifications for that first phase of the deployment, and with our dealer part- ner, assuring a successful deployment," noted Shanes. "The Talkaphone system is fully inte- grated into the University's Cisco/Singlewire mass notification system, the other partners in this deployment. The co-operation at every level made this the award winning mass notification system that it is." The five million dollar project resulted in increased visibility on campus, including but not limited to, 2,500 surveillance cameras, 7,500 SMS access control lock units and 28 emergen- cy Talkaphone WEBS towers. "UKPD is [now] responsible for security technology enhance- ments which include access control, camera sur- veillance, ID operations and our Crisis Manage- ment team oversees the monthly testing of the units," stated Captain Monroe. The system has grown extensively since the original project, adding more towers and cameras at locations such as the dormitory areas, student center, and sports facilities. "This deployment took a really concentrated team effort across our team at CMTA, the university, and Talkaphone and that was what really contributed to the suc- cess of the project," said Sorrell. The system has been well received by the outer and campus community. Captain Monroe and his team felt confident in the new security standards and were pleased when the system designed by CMTA was awarded the "Most Inno- vative Campus Security Project of 2014" at the annual Secured Cities Conference in Baltimore, MA. The security system also went on to receive a 2015 National Honor Award from the Ameri- can Consulting Engineering Companies. "The campus community expects a certain level of security on our campus and the Talkaphone sys- tem is a recognized as part of the system that has created a sense of enhanced security," added Captain Monroe. ■ CASE STUDY: EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS In 2012, UK sought to consolidate its security under a more unified system with University of Kentucky Police Department (UKPD) leading up the project.