Hemet Public School District Focuses on Ensuring a Safe
Learning Environment with Vicon’s Intuitive VMS Solution
Safeguarding the future with Valerus as the district-wide VMS solution
Overview
For schools with a sizable student population, such as Hemet Unified School District – a public school district located in Hemet, CA with 22,000 students and 28 district schools – risk mitigation is an inherent security priority. To address this concern, the district decided to implement a state-of-the-art security solution, where common challenges include vandalism, graffiti, bullying amongst the students and emergency readiness.
District officials, including Chris Wynn, the Director of Security for the district, recognized the need to upgrade their previous video surveillance system to better protect staff and students. They were looking for a solution that was simple and intuitive for a wide variety of users. Upgrades to their surveillance system were needed to allow centralized and better remote monitoring throughout the district. Centrally securing 28 buildings over 750 square miles was no easy feat, but it was of utmost importance to the district’s security department.
Hemet Puts Valerus to the Test
In the search for a new security solution, Chris Wynn put Vicon’s Valerus VMS to the test. One of the school principals tried the trial version of Valerus and found it to be incredibly intuitive and easy to use. After further evaluation, the district decided to implement Valerus district-wide, defining the main reason as the ease of use of the system. Chris Wynn, Director of Security for the district, stated, “We chose Vicon’s Valerus VMS because it is a simple and intuitive system that perfectly met our needs.” Another reason Valerus was chosen was the support they received. “Vicon’s sales and technical teams went above and beyond and were absolutely fantastic every step of the way!” stated Wynn.
Organization 
Hemet Unified School District
Challenges
• Provide a unified district-wide VMS solution that makes it easy to view and manage all cameras through a single platform.
• Provide flexible monitoring access to school district’s administration and security teams.
• Implement a platform that is simple and intuitive for all users.
• Record high-resolution video capable of capturing faces and other important details.
• Make it easy to search large quantities of video for forensic evidence of crime or vandalism.
Solution
The district invested in a Valerus VMS solution along with increasing the number of cameras, to a total of more than 1200. The system has been designed to minimize bandwidth transmission between buildings while providing a unified management interface.
Results
• The school’s security team is empowered to better maintain safety through access to high-resolution video viewable from workstations and smartphones.
• Valerus simple, intuitive VMS solution required minimal training.
• Strategically placed cameras have eliminated large unmonitored areas.
• The thin-client interface gives complete viewing flexibility.
• Crimes have been prevented and solved that would not have been possible with the previous system.
The Solution: Exceptional Campus Safety Delivered with Unified Video Surveillance
Chris also indicated that the biggest challenge this new system helped him overcome was the previous high demand for training and internal technical support that drained resources. “The use of my time assisting users has reduced dramatically since migrating to Valerus district-wide” stated Chris. In terms of budgetary challenges, the one-time license fees for Valerus are helping the district with their operational budget.
All 28 schools are now monitored through Vicon’s Valerus VMS, a centralized system that effectively and reliably ensures a safe learning environment for everyone. The Valerus solution allows the district to centrally manage surveillance from any location while giving administrators at each building visibility into all school activity. After implementing Valerus, the feature Chris finds most useful is the ability to export video with preview markers, as it is a big part of what he does.
The Results: Hemet USD in Empowered with Crucial Insights to Reduce Campus Crimes
The district also has increased the number of security camera feeds at campuses from 262 to 1,215, an increase of 363%. Within months, Hemet USD saw a considerable decrease in incidents within the district. The new security system served as both an effective deterrent and investigative tool, helping to reduce incidents of vandalism, graffiti and bullying. According to the district, since the new system was installed, after-hours property crimes at district schools have dropped by 38%. Hemet officials saw first-hand how Vicon’s Valerus VMS solution could help them achieve three of their top objectives: mitigating violence, de-escalating bullying and reducing vandalism and theft.
After installation of the system, an incident occurred on school property where an individual attempted to steal a surveillance camera. With Valerus’ easy-to-use interface, advanced search capabilities and exceptional image detail, the security team was able to successfully identify the suspect as a former student and resolve the situation in a matter of minutes.
