Written by: Robin Hattersley
For U.S. K-12 schools, school districts, institutions of higher education, and healthcare facilities, video surveillance is a must-have technology that most campus public safety and security departments use every day, according to the 2024 Video Surveillance Survey from Campus Safety.
Nearly 200 campus security and police executives participated in this year’s survey, which was conducted in November. Nearly all of the respondents (98%) said their organization has at least one video surveillance system. Additionally, 59% of this year’s participants not only have security cameras but are also looking to expand, update or replace what they have in the next two years.
So which features are most important to campus security executives, how are their video surveillance systems being used, and what is prompting so many campuses to upgrade their cameras?
Read on to find out.
8 in 10 Participants Say Video Surveillance Systems Are Force Multipliers
More than nine in ten respondents (91%) whose organizations have video surveillance systems use this technology daily (82%) or weekly (9%), which is about the same usage rate as in 2022.
However, more than seven out of ten respondents (71%) this year said their video surveillance systems frequently provide evidence for their investigations. That’s ten percentage points more than two years ago when 61% of respondents marked that their systems frequently provided evidence. Another 26% of 2024 respondents said their cameras sometimes provide evidence for investigations.
Additionally, at 83%, 10% more respondents this year than two years ago said their cameras frequently (40%) or sometimes (43%) act as force multipliers.
Nearly eight in ten of this year’s respondents (78%) said their cameras frequently (23%) or sometimes (55%) prevent crime. Additionally, 89% of 2024 survey takers said their video surveillance systems frequently (54%) or sometimes (35%) help their departments monitor their campus during other situations where safety or security issues could arise, such as weather emergencies, athletic events, concerts, protests, etc.
Nearly 1 in 3 Survey Takers Use License Plate Recognition
When participants were asked how their organizations use their security cameras, the most popular response for all survey takers was “Monitoring entrances and exits” at 92%, followed by “Monitoring the perimeter” at 76% and “Monitoring parking facilities” at 69%.
However, like in 2022, this year’s respondents from hospitals and institutions of higher education were much more likely to use video surveillance to monitor areas prone to theft (35% and 49% respectively), compared to K-12 respondents (19%).
K-12 schools/school districts (41%) are much more likely than college campuses (24%) to verify visitor identity with their cameras. Also, more than one in three healthcare respondents (35%) said they use video surveillance to verify visitors.
New to the questionnaire this year was license plate recognition (LPR), with 30% of all respondents saying they use this technology. However, at 40% and 33% respectively, healthcare and colleges and universities are more likely to use LPR than K-12 campuses (28%).
Gun/weapons detection is also new to the 2024 survey, with 11% of respondents saying they use this technology with their video surveillance systems. At 15% and 13% respectively, hospital and K-12 respondents were the most likely to say their organizations use their security cameras to screen for guns and other weapons, compared to only 8% of colleges and universities.
Three out of five healthcare respondents said their campus cameras monitor patient waiting rooms (60%) and half use cameras to monitor areas storing medications/pharmacies. Healthcare survey participants were also more likely to say their campuses use cameras to monitor areas with a history of assaults (25%) than their peers from institutions of higher education (13%) and K-12 schools (16%).
90% of Respondents Rate Image Clarity and System Reliability as ‘Extremely Important’
This year’s survey asked participants to rate the importance of various system features on a scale from 1 to 5, with 1 not being important at all and 5 being extremely important. Not surprisingly, “Cameras’ ability to identify a subject or see an incident clearly” and “Reliability” came out on top. A whopping 90% of all respondents rated image clarity and system reliability as extremely important, or a 4.8 out of 5.
“Cost/affordability” was next at 4.3, followed by “Cybersecurity” at 4.1. “Ability to integrate/interoperate with our other camera systems” and “Ability to integrate/interoperate with our access control system(s)” both were rated as a 4.0 out of 5.
Download the 2024 Video Surveillance Deep Dive
At 3.6, “Ability to use the cloud” was the seventh most important feature, followed by “Ability to incorporate analytics” at 3.5, and “Ability to integrate/interoperate with our intrusion detection system(s)” at 3.4.
“Ability to integrate/interoperate with our fire detection system(s)” and “Ability to incorporate artificial intelligence” rounded out the bottom at 3.1.
Old Cameras and Maintenance Issues Prompt Video Surveillance Upgrades
Nearly half (45%) of the respondents who recently upgraded their video surveillance systems or plan to do so soon said one of the reasons for their purchase was “Our cameras are old and/or don’t work.” Considering that 90% of this year’s respondents rated “Cameras’ ability to identify a subject or see an incident clearly” and “Reliability” as extremely important, this finding is not surprising.
It also highlights the reality that all security cameras wear out and/or eventually become obsolete as video surveillance technology evolves. As one respondent put it: “Video surveillance has to be constantly upgraded.”
Additionally, campuses that use old, obsolete camera technology might discover they are spending more money and resources than if they had just bitten the bullet and bought a new system. That’s probably why 13% of respondents said, “A new system will save us money, time, and resources in the long run.”
But there are many other reasons why this year’s survey participants acquired new security camera systems. More than one in three (36%) respondents said there was no particular reason why they upgraded or will soon upgrade their cameras… they just wanted to improve safety and security.
More than one in four (26%) respondents said a reason for their upgrades was “Our video surveillance system doesn’t integrate with our other security technologies, such as access control, intrusion detection, fire detection, etc.” At 23%, the next most popular reason for security camera system upgrades was “Recent incident(s) that happened on my campus or at my institution prompted increased awareness of our vulnerabilities.”
Only 17% of this year’s survey takers said their current video surveillance system meets their needs or they don’t believe they need security cameras.
Download the 2024 Video Surveillance Deep Dive, As Well As Comments from Some of Our Survey Participants
Campus Safety thanks the nearly 200 school, college, and hospital protection professionals who participated in this survey. We truly appreciate your input.
