Kamenetz, Dance Announce Nearly $3.8M For School Security

The plan includes enhanced security measures for schools, security cameras in elementary schools and checks on school visitors.

By Bryan P. Sears
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January 29, 2013

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County Executive Kevin Kamenetz and Baltimore County Public Schools Superintendent S. Dallas Dance announce nearly $3.8 million for school security enhancements.

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County Executive Kevin Kamenetz and Baltimore County Public Schools Superintendent S. Dallas Dance announce nearly $3.8 million for school security enhancements.

Credit Bryan P. Sears

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UPDATED (12:48 p.m.)—County Executive Kevin Kamenetz and Baltimore County Public Schools Superintendent S. Dallas Dance Tuesday announced nearly $3.8 million for enhancing security in county schools.

The money will be used for technology aimed at enhancing security at county schools, especially elementary schools, in the wake of shootings at Perry Hall High School and in Newtown , CT.

The plan includes:

State-of-the-art camera systems in all elementary and special educations schools. That video could be live-streamed to police in their cars.
Tablet computers that will allow police school resource officers to monitor video camera feeds from all over a building.
Electronically-controlled entry systems to be installed or upgraded in all schools.
A new visitor identification system at each school.

The county will spend about $1 million in cash and an additional $2.7 million in capital money from the budget year that begins July 1.

Kamenetz said the hope is that the county can be reimbursed later by state and federal sources.

Gov. Martin O'Malley earlier this year proposed $25 million for security improvements at schools in Maryland.

The Baltimore County Council is expected to discuss Kamenetz's proposed funding at a meeting Tuesday afternoon. A vote is scheduled for Feb. 4.

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Buck Harmon

10:05 am on Tuesday, January 29, 2013

That's not very much money for this type of technology....will all schools receive increased security... or just those in perceived bad neighborhoods..?

Larry

10:05 am on Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Great information.

Marge

10:18 am on Tuesday, January 29, 2013

All doors in all schools should be locked any visitors should have been made to enter through the front doors,search, show id, tell their business to guard/guards at door, guards confirm with office staff and if they are suppose to be there then be admitted to building. Something should have been sooner than this (maybe when all this happened in Col.). Hire unemployed VETS who have defended our country and can't return to or get a job. Arm them and i bet they would have no problem protecting our children.

chsmm1

10:22 am on Tuesday, January 29, 2013

I'm glad to see that they are concerned about school security, but the price tag seems low.. 3.8 mil??I would think the costs would be much higher. How many ele. schools are in Balt. county??

Jane Doe

10:32 am on Tuesday, January 29, 2013

That is all well and good, but I think the added measure of an armed security guard or trained volunteer at the school is necessary. You know if a deranged individual wants to get into a school, they will. That person could do much damage by the time the folks who are monitoring can send help. HAVE WE NOT LEARNED THE HARD WAY?

JDStuts

10:49 am on Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Don't forget about the fields and playgrounds. A sniper could easily pick them off when they go outside. We need Hesco barriers around the property. And what about the buses? Weapons are useless in close quarters like that so we need attack dogs.

Its a school for eff's sake, not a forward operating base.

There is no so such achievable state as safety, just the illusion. Schools are better off with air conditioning.

Buck Harmon

11:01 am on Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Buses don't even have seat belts..

FIFA_archived

11:11 am on Tuesday, January 29, 2013

I have made your very same comment many times JD, day care centers and snipers on top of the buildings at the mall and Avenue too.

Al Day

11:57 am on Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Snipers? Peleeeese! All of the school attacks are close quarter attacks by an individual or two against others inside the school. So you just want to surrender? The thought of being shot upon entry would be a tremendous deterrent to those cowards who do this stuff. I say cowards because so many shoot themselves rather than face the music.

FIFA_archived

12:01 pm on Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Al, that is today's shooters. Next one will be outside the school before they unlock the doors or after school when they are all dismissed. You are a reactionary and just refuse to see what may happen next, then what?

Dean Tippett

1:50 pm on Tuesday, January 29, 2013

I have always thought all school visitors, parents, late kids, volunteers, delivery men, etc. should enter through a door that opens into a protected and sealed-off vestibule where they can be questioned, verified and even searched if needed before being allowed into the school office, not the hallway. If there ios a problem, the doors can remain locked until the police arrive to figure it out. No one enters the school but through this special entrance.

FIFA_archived

3:13 pm on Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Dean, what's your plan for dismissal? When hundreds of kids and adults come flying out of the building? You better have a plan.

Buck Harmon

8:35 am on Wednesday, January 30, 2013

We should do away with all schools....throw plactic shack developments on the property....build education camps out in the wilderness some where....they should have tall walls with a machine gun turret at every angle....a moat should also be installed around the perimeter of these wall, filled with alligator's ...buses should be built to the president's limo standards....

Buck Harmon

8:38 am on Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Our children should be sent to these camps and remain until they have completed the education process..(safer).. upon completion of the education process students will be turned out...ready for the real world....

Marge

11:11 am on Tuesday, January 29, 2013

I agree with the bus seat belt comment, everyone else has to wear them. They should also be more visual with the bus drivers & their cell phones.

carollert

11:56 am on Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Yeah, sure, then there's an accident, the driver's injured, can't get all the kids unbuckled from their seats, some parent sues. Seat belts on buses are a bad idea. I do think they need speed governers, though, for buses that won't be traveling on the Beltway. Some of those school buses travel waaaaaay too fast.

carollert

12:03 pm on Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Oops, that should be "governor"

Al Day

11:51 am on Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Cameras, locked doors, etc are no excuse for not having armed security in each school. "When seconds count, cops take minutes". Our elected officials have armed security. Are our kids less valuable than they are? You want to deter someone from entering your kids school with a gun? The thought of someone inside able to shoot them before they can do harm is the number one defense.

JDStuts

1:10 pm on Tuesday, January 29, 2013

School shootings are rarer than accidental discharges. No suburbanite spec ops wannabe should be allowed with a gun in a school. It goes back to the perception of security.

An armed guard makes you comfortable. Others see that person as a time bomb. Until the military starts letting people carry in the PX or commissary there is no need to put guns in elementary schools.

CP

11:59 am on Tuesday, January 29, 2013

If they really cared about the kids they would put seat belts in buses.

Shin

1:35 pm on Tuesday, January 29, 2013

So shoot them while they're outside at recess

Dennis Gilpin

6:15 pm on Tuesday, January 29, 2013

No plan is perfect but some action is necessary.There are people who "are qualified " who would volunteer their time at the schools.As it is, it would make me feel better that there are measures being made to protect our children. As rare as some people might think it happens, it can and it does happen.Unfortunately, copycats do exist. We have seen it too often.

FIFA_archived

6:22 pm on Tuesday, January 29, 2013

The whole problem in a nutshell, "it would make me feel better". But it will not do a single thing for a motivated shooter to kill children. Most of you are dealing with the wrong end of the problem.

moe green

6:17 pm on Tuesday, January 29, 2013

The politicians can never find cash for a tax cut, but can always find money to spend on feel good crap

Chris

7:31 pm on Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Police officers were told they would have a "paperless" reporting system since the 1990's, but it still hasn't happened to this date. How are they going to "live stream" in "real time" to a police officers car laptop when the technology hardly exists. The officer has to manage driving his police car, looking for criminals and listening to his radio and watching a camera in a school... Not going to happen.

Bon

7:34 pm on Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Unfortunately unless our children are in a armed fortress there will always be a chance for a school shooting. Metal detectors in ALL schools and SORs in ALL schools should be a must. SOR's would at least be able to help the situation if not stop it.I don't think giving teachers or Admin. the right to carry a weapon is the answer.

FIFA_archived

7:03 am on Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Like I said, there are too many places for motivated shooter.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/30/alabama-school-bus-hostage-situation_n_2578775.html

L Davis

8:12 am on Wednesday, January 30, 2013

All of these ideas would be wonderful! But, all of these ideas cost money! How does the school system receive money? taxes! Who complains about the tax raise? Everyone! Good luck with all that!

Marge

8:40 am on Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Unemployed Vets. are trained and would be good for the job of security. I know the school buses fly up our street on a daily basis with/without students. Any parent or responsible person picking up their child could have some sort of id in their windshield.
About the taxes, yes everyone complains but with a project like this you would see you tax dollars put to good use, with this new gas tax is we will see our taxes being burned out of our cars.

Seriously?

10:00 am on Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Oswald and Charles Whitman were vets, your point is moot.

FIFA_archived

10:43 am on Wednesday, January 30, 2013

"Any parent or responsible person picking up their child could have some sort of id in their windshield."

Marge, what are you talking about?

JDStuts

11:18 am on Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Marge you have to adjust to the realization that all veterans are not highly moral superheroes who rise above the rest of society.

Also many, and I mean many, are lousy shooters. Everybody has their personal favorite story of the scrub who couldn't find the selector level, the one who couldn't pull the charging handle or the one who missed so consistently people thought it was a prank.

Vets are just regular people. They drop guns, suffer mental breaks and have bad days just like everyone else.