The Churchville-Chili Central School District recently added a new layer of safety for their six school buildings with the installation of mobile data computers (MDCs) to two of their security vehicles. MDCs are routinely used by police departments to give patrol officers remote access to online information and tools, but the district is the first in the area to bring the advanced technology to K-12 schools.
Churchville-Chili Director of School Safety and Security William Sanborn is very familiar with MDCs. Before joining the district, he was the Monroe County Undersheriff and had 25 years of experience with the Sheriff’s Office.
He said, “In an emergency situation at our schools, we want one of our experienced campus security officers on the scene as quickly as possible, prepared with all the information and tools necessary for an effective response. MDCs put our complete resources at their fingertips, regardless of their physical location.”
The in-vehicle touchscreen computers make it possible for security officers to immediately access all of the district’s records management resources, emergency plans, school maps, forms and documents, and off-campus emergency service contacts, including police and fire departments. They can also call up real-time views from every security camera in every school in the district, or easily remove the computer from the vehicle to set up a critical incident command post at any location.
The district began exploring the potential use of the mobile technology in January of 2017. Sanborn formed a working group that included district security experts Rick Allain, Tom Campopiano, John Pitts and Tim Pios, along with IT Director Derek VanDenHandel and Head Mechanic David Branch. The team reached out to peers at Roberts Wesleyan College and other locations. They worked closely with administrators on a plan custom-tailored for the Churchville-Chili schools, and obtained funding assistance from New York State, with the help of New York State Senator Michael Ranzenhofer.
Team members installed and programmed the new equipment in two of their security vehicles at the beginning of the 2017-18 school year. “We are always looking for ways to improve the safety of our educational community and the new tools are already making a difference,” said Security Officer Allain. “We can quickly discern the difference between false alarms and critical problems. We’ve used it to help locate students and monitor campus activity. Even in the first few months, the MDCs have been key to quickly solving several potentially difficult situations.”
