Top Campus Safety Trend That Shaped the Last Decade (and the Future)

Top Campus Safety

January 1, 2020, brought a new year and a new decade. The last ten years have been shaped by both triumph and tragedy, and the knowledge we’ve gained will help shape campus security into the future. 

Top Campus Safety

Campus Threats Over the Last Decade

Sadly, the 2010s saw several deadly school shootings, including the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School incident and the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and most recently at the Saugus High School and Santa Clarita, California where Nathaniel Berhow opened fire, killing two and injuring three before turning the gun on himself. 

Security challenges are not limited to elementary and high school campuses. We saw tragic incidents of bullying, many incidents of threats, and data breaches across all types of educational settings adding to the problem of school security. In September, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued a public service announcement warning of the growth of education technologies and widespread collection of student information. In October, the FBI also issued a warning to U.S. universities about the theft of intellectual properties by Chinese researchers.

Change is Good

When it comes to physical security, we have learned a lot in the last decade and have seen many positive changes. Educational campuses across the nation have made evaluating their security systems and practices a priority. Laws have changed and more money has been allocated to improve campus security. 

As a result of the Stoneman Douglas shooting, in March 2018, President Donald Trump signed the STOP School Violence Act into law, which provided $75 million in 2018 and has budgeted $100 million from 2019-2028 for schools to add security systems, improve coordination with local law enforcement agencies, and train students, teachers, and police on identifying and preventing violence. Recently, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced it awarded more than $85.3 million in school safety and security grants.

On a local level, schools are less hesitant to adopt security technologies and now physical security technologies such as video surveillance, access control, gunshot detection, intrusion detection, and emergency or mass communication systems are now widely accepted and implemented. 

What Do We Expect for the Future?

Over the next decade, we at SSP expect that physical security will continue to advance rapidly. Because of this, we recommend that schools invest in technologies that can scale as the needs and offerings change in order to gain the most advantage from your system. 

For more information about security systems and solutions for the educational setting, call SSP today! 1-888-540-0175