New security cameras were installed over the summer at Oak Park High School to offer a more expansive view of campus activity.

The recent installment of nearly 20 cameras allows the school campus to be monitored from all angles that were previously unattainable.

According to Principal Kevin Buchanan, the funding for over 100 security cameras was made possible through Measure S and with help from money saved through the solar panels.

Due to the recent construction of solar panels in the student parking lot, administration mounted more security cameras in that vicinity to prevent criminal activity. Two years prior, nine cars were broken into during lunch hours.

“If [perpetrators] saw something they liked they would smash the window and grab it. We couldn’t get them [before], now we’ll get them,” Buchanan said.

Buchanan and assistant principal Jason Meskis both monitor the cameras on a daily basis through Avigilon Appearance Search, an application on their computers and mobile phones. The application has the ability to detect suspicious activity and notifies administrators via text message when motion is detected on campus in the middle of the night.

Although the cameras are not able to record and capture audio, they have other features such as their ability to target movement using infrared sensors.

“The cameras have infrared for night vision and motion sensors that help us locate the time window when there was movement in that camera’s field of vision,” Buchanan wrote to the Talon in an email. “It’s the fact that we have over 100 cameras that allows us to track someone’s movement through the campus.

The cameras were recently used to identify vandalism suspects at the school Sept. 11.

“There was some chalk graffiti that showed up this morning. We saw exactly what happened and how it got there. It’s a time saver,” Buchanan said.

According to Buchanan, the cameras are time-efficient when a problem arises — without the installment of these new cameras, there would have been the long process of questioning potential suspects before the vandals were even determined.

“Our primary reason is to protect our facility and to resolve issues without having to conduct long, exhaustive investigations,” Buchanan said.

Buchanan wants to assure students that administration is not using these cameras to monitor kids on campus all day; in fact, they only check the cameras if someone reports something to the office, such as an altercation on school grounds, since the cameras can store up to two weeks of footage.

Aside from the recent installment of security cameras, Buchanan has other means of keeping the campus as safe as can be.

“We have a diligent staff who works hard to make sure who is on campus and who shouldn’t be on campus at all times,” Buchanan said, “With our new check-in system in the office, we are able to keep eyes and ears on all of our students to assure their safety.”