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Local Schools Get Sci-Fi Type Security Cams
Face Recognition Cameras Planned For Rest Of Nashville Schools
POSTED: 4:41 pm CST December 5,
2007
UPDATED: 6:08 pm CST December 5,
2007
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A piece of science-fiction is becoming fact at some Metro schools. 
Video: High-Tech Cameras Installed At SchoolsBiometric security is now part of the Nashville Metro School System.Every student who enters Graymar Elementary School is having his or her face scanned with what officials called a recognition camera.While walking down the halls, the camera can capture and store 25 faces per second.“This system cannot stop anyone, it can’t reach out and grab them, but it puts the alert into the necessary people which are designed to take care of those incidents,” said Mike Grimes of Crossmatch Technologies.If the camera doesn’t recognize someone in the crowd, an alarm sounds.“If it’s a zero-tolerance individual, be it a student or an adult, it’s going to come up and let them know,” Grimes said.About 900 students and teachers have their faces stored in this system.All people have unique facial features from the top of their foreheads to the middle of their lips. That’s the area of the face that the cameras capture.Changing a hair style or putting on glasses will not trick the system either.“It’s looking at eye sockets, eyebrows, nose and the points, and so the algorhithm is measuring those points,” said Crossmatch Technologies’ Kristie James.At Graymar, every student and faculty member enters through one door. If the door camera doesn’t catch someone who is not supposed to be there, the one in the hall will.Nashville is the first district in the country to use the face scan technology. Only three schools in the district have it now, and more will follow.“That’s the biggest protection that we have to make is people that we don’t recognize, that don’t belong in schools and how to keep them out,” said Metro Schools superintendent Pedro Garcia.Face recognition has been installed in Harpeth Valley and Antioch high schools, which is one of the largest schools in Nashville.The pilot program is costing Metro schools $33,000 but the district said it’s worth every penny of it.Metro said it hopes to eventually install face recognition cameras in all schools.
Video: High-Tech Cameras Installed At SchoolsBiometric security is now part of the Nashville Metro School System.Every student who enters Graymar Elementary School is having his or her face scanned with what officials called a recognition camera.While walking down the halls, the camera can capture and store 25 faces per second.“This system cannot stop anyone, it can’t reach out and grab them, but it puts the alert into the necessary people which are designed to take care of those incidents,” said Mike Grimes of Crossmatch Technologies.If the camera doesn’t recognize someone in the crowd, an alarm sounds.“If it’s a zero-tolerance individual, be it a student or an adult, it’s going to come up and let them know,” Grimes said.About 900 students and teachers have their faces stored in this system.All people have unique facial features from the top of their foreheads to the middle of their lips. That’s the area of the face that the cameras capture.Changing a hair style or putting on glasses will not trick the system either.“It’s looking at eye sockets, eyebrows, nose and the points, and so the algorhithm is measuring those points,” said Crossmatch Technologies’ Kristie James.At Graymar, every student and faculty member enters through one door. If the door camera doesn’t catch someone who is not supposed to be there, the one in the hall will.Nashville is the first district in the country to use the face scan technology. Only three schools in the district have it now, and more will follow.“That’s the biggest protection that we have to make is people that we don’t recognize, that don’t belong in schools and how to keep them out,” said Metro Schools superintendent Pedro Garcia.Face recognition has been installed in Harpeth Valley and Antioch high schools, which is one of the largest schools in Nashville.The pilot program is costing Metro schools $33,000 but the district said it’s worth every penny of it.Metro said it hopes to eventually install face recognition cameras in all schools.Copyright 2008 by WSMV.com. All rights reserved.
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