COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (KMTV) — Pottawattamie County supervisors approved a camera-sharing agreement between the county-wide law enforcement communication center and seven school districts. It means, in the event of an emergency, law enforcement could see the security camera feed in schools that opt-in.
- "We do have to have a reason for viewing the cameras and our IT department is working with us having multi-factor authentification, permissions, and regulating who is seeing these cameras," said Capt. Sam Arkfeld with the sheriff's office.
"It's a reality now, that school safety is the number one concern that we have for our students," St. Albert Administrator Pat Ryan said.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
ANCHOR: As the situation at Northwest High School was unfolding, local leaders in Pottawattamie County were having a discussion and taking step to improve police response to school violence. Katrina Markel was there and tells us why they believe this will make schools safer.
Seven school districts in Pottawattamie County will now allow law enforcement to access their security camera systems.
Captain Sam Arkfeld called the reality of active shooter incidents the "driving force" behind this move. It can be used in other emergencies, but ONLY for emergencies.
"We do have to have a reason for viewing the cameras and our IT department is working with us having multi-factor authentification, permissions, and regulating who is seeing these cameras," said Arkfeld.
David Bayer is in charge of IT for the county. He told me the technology will be encrypted to deter hackers.
"We have several layers of technology that allow, or don't allow, people to get in there accidentally or bad actors, like you mentioned," Bayer said.
Supervisors had to approve the agreement. Before they did, they had questions about privacy: "So, you're not going to be recording when you go into it, you're just going to be viewing?"
St. Albert is one of the schools that've opted into the program. Pat Ryan is the head administrator.
"It's a reality now, that school safety is the number one concern that we have for our students," Ryan said.
He said discussions about the camera sharing agreement started when St. Albert, along with Lewis Central and Council Bluffs schools, participated in training exercises with police.
"It was discussed, not only by St. Albert, by other school districts, and we felt it was another measure that we needed in place that would help our school safety," said Ryan.
Ryan says his school is continually evaluating security needs. In addition to St. Albert, Lewis Central, Council Bluffs, Riverside, Treynor, Tri-Center, and Underwood have so far joined the camera-sharing agreement with the county.
