Police Dept and access to the school's network/security cameras

[techie923]

hey all,

 

Just wondering what everyone has setup and how. I was currently told we need to give the local Police dept. limited access to our security cameras only in an emergency that will be requested by the Superintendent. If there is a lockdown for example the police dept needs access to view the situation at the district but only then and not at their free will.

Any info on this is appreciated.

 

Techie923

[FN-GM]

Most people on this site are from the UK and this type of thing is a big no no there. You might struggle to find someone who has first hand experience. However er do have the technical know how here.

 

What system do you have? How do you usually access it?

[mikes]

For us (again in the UK) setting up remote access for the police would just introduce a security hole. It would be a nightmare with firewall rules, authentication etc. If the police want footage (occasionally they do) they just visit us, and we usually give it to them on a DVD-R. If the police wanted remote access to our security cameras they are welcome to install (and pay for) their own solution.

We use Hikvision units, they do have web access so it would be possible to set up a user for the police if the firewall rules were configured to allow the police HQ's IP address access to the system via the webinterface - or the Hikvision client software can be configured to allow remote devices to be viewable - no idea how it would work over a remote link though as it is HD footage. Don't US high schools have their own on site police anyway?

Edited June 6, 2019 by mikes

[FN-GM]

they just visit us, and we usually give it to them on a DVD-R.

 

Don't US high schools have their own on site police anyway?

 

I don't want to upset the OP here, my response isn't intended to do that. But reading between the lines I am thinking the police would want access in the event there was a serious incident such as Columbine High School massacre. The above wouldn't be an option if it was the case. If there was something like this to happen an instant view inside from a remote point would be extremely useful.

[mthomas08]

We have it in our policy that the police may request access to certain footage for criminal investigations (along these lines).

 

That's it. They don't need access to our CCTV and no one does externally.

 

Only 3 have direct access with 2 more added on for extra bits. The footage requests/access is given to SLT and a few others.

[dhicks]

I was currently told we need to give the local Police dept. limited access to our security cameras only in an emergency that will be requested by the Superintendent.

 

It depends on what camera system you have - most IP-based systems these days have some sort of web client that should give you access from outside the school. My guess is that you could set up a user with appropriate access rights, then give those details to the police department, maybe in a sealed envelope complete with instructions to be opened in case of an incident. I wouldn't rely on having local access to your systems in case of a lockdown incident or similar - you're going to want the police to be able to get to the cameras they require without help. Ideally, your camera system would let you audit access times, and possibly report if a particular user logged in, so you could hand the police login details but be alerted if they logged in.

[kylewilliamson]

In the UK, this would be an absolute GDPR disaster zone.

 

Do the police have a right to see the imagery live? Not without a court order. Do the police have the need to see the imagery live? Not apart from in a very certain set of situations. They should be requesting using CCTV Access Requests for footage.

 

In the US.. well I don't know local law. I'm guessing as school based incidents have been sadly somewhat more.. prevalent over the last few years, this wouldn't be a bad shout if they could turn it on when necessary for safeguarding/incident resolution. Without sounding too ridiculous, if a SWAT team need to storm a school, having CCTV access to see what's going on where isn't a bad idea.

 

At the same time, there are dozens of different CCTV platform, HIKVISION, Sony, Panasonic, Dahua, etc. etc. I guess an appropriate approach in this situation is allowing the School District access under a strict SLA, so at least a person there can provide access if all the staff who have remote access are unavailable due to the incident.

[dhicks]

Does anyone give people like any bodyguards / minders associated with children CCTV access? We don't, I'm just wondering what other's CCTV policy states.