Longview

Longview Chooses Panasonic for Surveillance and Video Management

At the Longview Independent School District in east Texas, video surveillance goes beyond security and a sense of well-being, also serving as a tool to help administrators understand any problems at the schools. When a situation arises, the Panasonic system provides district officials the ability to view video to aid understanding of what really happened. Each campus has the ability to access its camera views live or from archived footage using web access. For example, a child recently got hurt in a cafeteria, and her parents had questions about how the event happened. Everything was captured clearly on video, which helped put the parents' concerns to rest.

In addition to 850 Panasonic i-PRO cameras, the district utilizes Panasonic i-PRO monitoring and management software to interface with NVRs at the high school and from the central office. "The software is extremely straightforward and robust, and the limited clutter makes it easy to find your way around and ensures you can quickly do what you need to do," according to the district‘s director of technology.

The system integrates with the district‘s access control, which was also standardized system-wide. Integration with access control involved defining the nearest camera to each access point to provide video to accompany every access control event.

The technology director appreciates Panasonic's Super Dynamic functionality at the high school, where there are glass doors throughout. Panasonic cameras provide clear views through the glass and can show details of someone entering the building despite backlighting.

"We point our cameras directly at the door, and the dynamic range is very good," he said. "We use that feature extensively." The vandal-proof cameras can withstand rough treatment and can stand up to anything that happens "within the realm of normal" in the school environment.

He also appreciates that Panasonic has gone "above and beyond" to work with him on the access control integration.

"Panasonic connected us with their top technical guy, who said ’here's what we need to do and where we need to go,‘" Pitts said. "Knowledgeable, technical people are available almost immediately, and I am very impressed with their willingness to work with people on a technical level."