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Security Dealer & Integrator
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Balancing Security in a Changing Society
Integrators come at it from every angle
By Deborah L. O'Mara
Editor-in-Chief
Sometimes it ‘takes a village’ for successful security deployment. Case in point: Thurgood Marshall Middle School in Lynn, Mass.
For years the school was pegged as undesirable, unsafe and a detriment to the neighborhood. Today, Thurgood Marshall Middle School has turned itself around, and the community, security integration team and many others were responsible.
Viscom Systems Inc., Watertown, Mass., the lead design-build integrator, played a huge role in the project’s success. A Strategic Business Partner of GE Security, Bradenton, Fla., Viscom didn’t just start with the hardware and equipment. It began in a consultative manner working alongside GE’s Security Education Solutions Team to develop a strategic plan. The plan started with the grounds themselves, sprucing up the exterior and landscaping, replacing broken windows, and after years without one, hoisting a flag on a newly installed flagpole. All these little things made a big difference, according to Richard A. Penney, president of Viscom Systems.
“In the case of the Lynn public school, the project was a high-priority issue,” said Penney. “The school administration reached out to the GE Security group for technical information and a solution that would meet their growing security concerns,” he said.
When GE and Viscom Systems first visited Thurgood Marshall to develop and respond to the Request for Proposal the situation was near dire. “One thing that really struck us was the condition of the school,” said Paul Baratta, national security advisor, GE Security. “It was basically in chaos. There were broken windows and doors and sidewalks, no grass, parking issues and more. However, it quickly became a community project. Volunteers from the school, teachers, the city and even active and retired employees from the local GE aviation plant came in and logged some 4,600 hours repairing, cleaning and sprucing up the 1923 school,” Baratta said.
Viscom Systems installed an integrated GE Facility WinX Access Control, Intrusion and Video System. The video system uses exterior low light color/b&w day-night cameras and low-profile color mini domes inside.
Safe and secure aids learning
In follow up studies conducted by GE, the overall performance of the students at the school has increased since the security deployment and renovation, said Dr. Ray Lauk, education marketing manager, GE Security.
