Facial recognition in Rockland Maine’s Regional School Unit 13
Information Certainty: Documented
Deployment Purpose: Surveillance, Health Surveillance
| Summary |
|---|
| 0 |
Products and Institutions:
| Product Deployed | Verkada Command (VMS) Verkada Face Match |
|---|---|
| Institutions ⠉ | Verkada Verkada |
| Datasets | Unknown Dataset 0065 Verkada (Dataset) Verkada Face Match (Dataset) |
| Search software |
Status and Events:
| Status | Ongoing |
|---|---|
| Events | Start (31 March 2020, Speculative, ?, No description) |
| Start Date | |
| End Date |
Users:
| Involved Entities | |
|---|---|
| Managed by | Regional School Unit 13 |
| Used by | Regional School Unit 13 |
Location:
| City | Rockland (ME) |
|---|---|
| Country ⠉ | USA |
Description[ ]
In Rockland regional school unit 13 in Maine, officials used federal pandemic relief money to procure a network of cameras with “face match” technology for contact tracing. Through advanced surveillance, the cameras, made by California-based security company Verkada, allow the 1,600-student district to identify students who came in close contact with classmates who tested positive for Covid-19 1
Regional School Unit 13 (RSU 13) has one of the highest concentrations of top ranked public schools in the state. Located off the coast of Maine, the K-12 school district has approximately 1,641 students enrolled across seven public schools spanning five towns. As the district prepares its reopening plan, one of their priorities is having the right infrastructure and protocols in place to ensure a safe and healthy learning environment. With the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act , IT Director Bruce Johnson was given the opportunity to improve RSU 13’s security program and safety procedures with new technologies 2
Besides fulfilling key criteria, Verkada provides an evolving feature set and intuitive user interface to simplify security management. Johnson can view cameras across sites in seconds through Command , Verkada’s web-based management platform, which he accesses through any web-based browser or the mobile app. To quickly isolate incidents, he applies advanced search filters for motion, vehicles, or people. If a close contact is detected on campus, he is immediately notified so he can monitor and share a live video link directly from Command in seconds 2
To ensure a safe environment for students and staff, Johnson is able to upload photos of individuals and set Person of Interest alerts to be notified if they come onsite. He has advanced software capabilities that include People Analytics, which compares people in frame and provides filtered search results based on personal characteristics. In seconds, he can instantly retrieve all instances where an individual appeared within frame and know who he needs to notify as a close contact 2