GE Security Inc. announced that Frederick County Public Schools in Frederick, Md., is using GE Nav digital video recording (DVR) management software as the backbone of a new, integrated video surveillance system to help provide enhanced safety in all the 63 schools in the district.

Frederick County Public Schools chose GE Nav as the software is capable of integrating legacy infrastructure and providing centralized security for more than 40,000 students and 5,000 staff members the system serves each day. Frederick County has a total land area of 667 square miles stretching from Pennsylvania to West Virginia. As of now, 51 buildings can be viewed from the central security office and by local law enforcement.

“We have schools spread over a wide geography, but we can monitor all of them from the central office,” said Cliff Cornwell, safety coordinator at Frederick County Public Schools. “Due to the ability of GE Nav to quickly access video obtained from any camera throughout the system, we have increased our ability to respond quickly to actual security events while reducing false alarms to law enforcement by 50 percent. Simultaneously, we have been able to enhance our access control capabilities by recording every visitor who enters one of our buildings.”

With GE Nav controlling almost around 600 GE Security fixed and dome cameras and 60 GE DVRs, security officials can monitor students moving between portable classrooms and the main school building, in addition to providing improved security at night. A motion-activated camera is located above the front door of each school to record every person coming into the building. These cameras also come handy in making important weather-related decisions, using GE Nav to view conditions at schools all across Frederick County. The school system has also saved money on renovations by using existing exterior cameras to monitor new facilities, reducing equipment costs without compromising on security.

GE Nav which has a user-friendly graphic interface, provides for a more accurate and timely response to security incidents that may occur. “Our work with Frederick County Public Schools is a great example of how GE Nav can help schools do more with less, increasing their return on investment (ROI) for security infrastructure while meeting today’s challenges,” said Jon Hughes, video surveillance product marketing manager, GE Security. “This partnership is another example of GE Security’s commitment to innovation that delivers smart solutions to real world problems.”