Criteria: Funded by the Department of Justice, experts from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, The Johns Hopkins School of Education, and the Bloomburg School of Public Health collaborated to produce a comprehensive review of a wide range of technologies to support school safety.
Key Takeaway: This comprehensive report, funded by the Department of Justice, offers a detailed review of technologies used to enhance school safety, ranging from simple access control mechanisms to sophisticated surveillance and detection systems. It covers best practices in planning and implementation, and scrutinizes each technology in terms of usage, benefits, concerns, cost, emerging advancements, current vendors, and additional resources. Educators can use this report as an encyclopedia to navigate school safety technologies.
Summary and Insights: This report is encyclopedic (and should be used accordingly) and provides extensive information about the full range of technologies from simple access control (locks) to sophisticated surveillance and detection systems. The press release and the executive summary provide helpful entry points to the 480- page work.
Among the topics covered are chapters on a strong, best practice approach to planning and implementation, access control, alarms and sensors, communications, lighting, software applications, surveillance, and weapons detection. Where applicable, each technology is addressed through a standard review that encompasses:
- Introduction to the technology
- How it is used
- What makes the technology good
- Concerns about the technology
- Cost considerations
- Emerging technologies
- Current vendors
- Further reading
In addition to the topic chapters, the authors provide a legal review of the field and a brief review of the literature. Although produced in 2016, the methodology and processes in this report should remain relevant and provide a lens for the consideration of new technologies.
Resource: https://www.jhuapl.edu/PressRelease/180406b
Authors: John Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory, & United States of America. (2016). Comprehensive Report on School Safety Technology.