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US Schools, college campuses have new security options

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Abhigna
New Update

OLDSMAR, USA: PlateSmart Technologies announced that it has partnered with Convergint Technologies to protect college campuses with a new security system, which will track all vehicle activity 24 hours a day. At the heart of this system is PlateSmart's ARES Enterprise License Plate Recognition (LPR) analytic product.

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The ARES LPR-based video analytic security system, as explained in the release, effectively turns every surveillance camera on campus into an LPR camera. As a vehicle passes in front of a camera, the image is run through PlateSmart's software, which immediately verifies license plate numbers and the state of origin. That information is then run against a database such as a criminal watch list or university-owned custom hotlist. If a match is found, an alert is sent to designated users in real time via email or text message.

The system as claimed, securely stores all license plate data it captures and incorporates state-of-the-art analytic tools. Administrative personnel can access stored data and filter it for recognition of vehicle movement patterns or quickly find a specific event complete with a date- and time-stamp. Such information provides security personnel with solid evidence for criminal investigations or for identifying suspicious persons moving on and off campus.

It is further added that the ARES system is also equipped with a real-time video wall display that allows a dispatcher to easily monitor system operation and dispatch proper resources to act on alerts. Additionally, it provides a customizable built-in data retention policy so that the user can decide how long LPR data will be stored. This feature addresses privacy concerns recently raised by the ACLU.

One university that has recently installed ARES on its campus is the University of San Diego. The system, in conjunction with Pelco Sarix cameras, is already helping security personnel to protect the safety of the University's students through constant monitoring of vehicles moving onto and off of the campus.

"School campuses are becoming an increasingly important area to employ advanced security technology," said John Chigos, founder and CEO of PlateSmart. "Having real-time intelligence derived from license plate information is invaluable when it comes to protecting our students, whether they are in a university, elementary, middle or high school."