No talking your way around schools' new security machine

CHESAPEAKE

It used to be much harder to keep track of visitors who came into and out of B.M. Williams Primary School.

People were asked to sign their names into a visitors' book in the office, but the signatures often were hard to read, said Principal Craig Mills. Sometimes there would be a last name, but only a first initial. And what if someone gave a fake name?

No more. Now, every visitor who walks into B.M. Williams must produce identification for a machine that will record the information, compare it with the national sex-offender registry, then record how long the visitor is in the building. A small camera mounted on the kiosk snaps a photo of the person's face.

The school is one of three in the city now using what is known as the LobbyGuard system.

"This isn't foolproof, but it's a lot further along than where we were," Mills said.

As Virginia and other states have passed laws in recent years cracking down on convicted sex offenders, schools have boosted their security measures, adding security guards, cameras and, now, instant sex-offender registry checks. At the same time, civil liberties groups have voiced concerns about the privacy trade-offs.

If a B.M. Williams visitor's information doesn't match anyone in the sex-offender database, the guest selects from a list of destinations within the school and the machine prints out a sticky badge with his or her face and name.

If there's a hit, the machine prints a slip that reads "void" and orders the person to report to an employee immediately. It also sends a message to all the computers in the main office that an alert has been triggered.

The information is encrypted and stored on a server until school officials delete it. It can be accessed only by administrators, Mills said.

The division has not had problems with sex offenders coming into schools, school spokesman Tom Cupitt said. He called the LobbyGuard machines a proactive measure.

The system also is being test ed at Hickory High School and Western Branch Middle School. The division will eventually decide whether it wants to put the kiosks - which cost $7,800 each - in all 45 of the city's public schools, said Wayne Martin, director of students services for the division.

LobbyGuard has installed about 1,000 kiosks around the world, mostly in schools, said company President Kevin Allen, although they've also been installed in government buildings and corporate offices. Schools in Currituck and Camden counties in northeastern North Carolina use LobbyGuard, Allen said, and they're about to be installed in Fairfax County schools.

Still, some groups say the technology is overkill.

Devices like LobbyGuard exploit parents' fears and eat away at people's privacy, said Jim Harper, director of information policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute.

"It's simple, straightforward terror-pandering," Harper said. "We don't need to treat the schools as prisons or high-security areas. We just need to take ordinary, common precautions, and this is not one of them."

T he reaction from the public to the kiosks has been largely positive, Martin said, although a handful of parents has complained about giving up personal information.

"That's one of our jobs: to try to provide safe and a secure environment," Martin said. "The public expects security, and they expect the school system to do whatever they think is prudent."

Parents interviewed at B.M. Williams this week said they liked the new system. Even though it took some extra time in the morning, it was worth it for the feeling of security, said Lavernique Johnson, whose daughter is in second grade.

"I just feel safer that they know who's coming in and coming out," Johnson said.

Alicia Wittmeyer, (757) 222-5216, alicia.wittmeyer@pilotonline.com