With the cameras rolling during production of the 1942 classic movie Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart improvised when he delivered his iconic line to Ingrid Bergman, “Here’s looking at you, kid.”
Eighty years later there are many more cameras rolling. Much of what they capture is also improvised.
A video security system with more than 900 cameras is one of the many technology services offered by DoIT. One in eight of those cameras is used by the Department of Recreational Sports, which has the second-largest deployment of cameras of any Student Affairs department.
Many of the 8,000 to 9,000 students who use one of the campus recreation centers each day assume everyone sharing the space follows the Aggie Honor Code. The Student Recreation Center is the highest theft location on campus. Backpacks and other personal items are regularly left unattended on the sidelines. However, this behavior makes the facilities a prime target for those who don’t honor the code. That includes intruders who regularly seek creative ways to wrongfully enter the facility.
When the new southside location opens next fall, Rec Sports will have nearly 600,000 square feet of recreational space across three rec center facilities. “Our facility is vast, so staff can’t see all parts at all times”, says Oscee Wheatfall, the facility operations director. Even with about 70 student employees concurrently working at any given time in the centers, they have to depend on technology to effectively monitor the safety of their patrons.
Cameras complement the staff who work hard to provide a safe and welcoming environment for everyone. Rec Sports does a great job developing its student employees with significant professional skills. In addition to training for specific duties like officiating intramural sports, student employees also receive special training for security and risk management. They regularly watch for and can respond to those who trespass. Oscee and his staff want patrons to have a good experience in the facilities.
There are several steps students can easily take to protect their property. First, only bring what you need to the rec center. Second, take advantage of the free lockers located throughout the facility for day use.
As the new southside location prepares to open, Rec Sports staff will submit requests to install new cameras. Technology Services – Student Affairs will facilitate the approval process. A special university committee must approve all camera requests to ensure compliance with university policies that address appropriate use and privacy. Technology Services – Student Affairs also coordinates installation by a qualified vendor and configures each camera for the right security settings, exposure, direction, zoom, and motion detection. Exclusion zones can be defined to blacken any area within a camera’s view that should not be captured. A lot of care is taken to ensure nothing unintended is captured and to ensure each user of the service is provided only the level of access required for their assigned job duties.
Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca (1942)
Seventy years after its release, Casablanca was digitally remastered at 4K resolution. Now, most new camera deployments for Student Affairs are also 4K, but, unlike Casablanca, they are no longer black and white.
The high resolution and color quality require substantial storage capacity. As per university policy, video is saved for 30 days. Collectively, the recordings from all cameras require about 80,000 gigabytes of hard disk space. That’s enough space to store more than 150 years of uninterrupted music. If you use a Ring camera at the front door of your home, it stores the video somewhere in the cloud and you may not know exactly who has access to it. Technology Services – Student Affairs maintains its own campus servers to securely store all recordings.
All that adds up to great value for Rec Sports, the Division of Students Affairs, and the students they serve. Drew McMillen, Rec Sports senior associate director, echoes Oscee’s appreciation. “We appreciate the camera systems we have in place to provide a more safe environment for our patrons. If a student reports a lost item to UPD, we can serve as a resource for UPD to see what happened.”
We can tell our students, “We’re looking out for you, kid!”
Capturing value for our customers. That’s what we’re about. Ask how we can help you!
For more information about Texas A&M’s operational standards for security cameras, visit https://it.tamu.edu/policy/it-policy/local-policy/av-surveillance/avst.php
