LPS needed to ensure that missing students could be quickly located, that situations did not escalate and potential trespassers could be detected and tracked in real time. The district’s legacy DVR systems lacked the scalability, accessibility and intelligence required to support these evolving security demands.

Beyond campus boundaries, the district also supports the wider community, including assisting law enforcement with incidents in surrounding areas and maintaining visibility into events that could impact school safety, such as nearby wildfires or crime. Having a solution that could share encrypted footage with law enforcement was essential. Moreover, the system needed to be easy to use and accessible to staff, enabling faster response times and more proactive safeguarding.

“We must have quality technology delivering quality results, because we cannot have a successful educational experience without the peace of mind that safety and security are well taken care of,” said Cory Weis, assistant director of security and emergency planning, Littleton Public Schools.

LPS partnered with 3xLOGIC to implement a scalable, district-wide video surveillance ecosystem built on VIGIL VMS, hybrid NVR infrastructure and VISIX cameras. Having worked together since 2018, 3xLOGIC was a trusted choice for the leadership team, with 1,400 cameras originally installed. Now, the system has grown to over 1,500 cameras across the district’s many campuses.

A mix of cameras, including fisheye, PTZ, panoramic, dome, bullet and more, provides comprehensive oversight of buildings and surrounding areas, adapting to cover environments such as classrooms, narrow corridors, storage facilities and large outdoor spaces and playgrounds.

“3xLOGIC cameras have excellent ease of use, and, because the LPS staff does a lot of maintenance work on installed cameras, that’s very important to us,” Weis said.

The VIGIL V7300-Series of Hybrid Servers forms the backbone of the deployment, with operators accessing footage, evidence, alerts and other useful contextual information in a central place. The four internal servers store, manage and archive video footage from all 26 schools. This approach provides LPS with full control over data while ensuring high availability and streamlined management, with the scalability to add devices when needed.

As the VIGIL V7300-Series comes pre-configured with VIGIL VMS, operators benefit from advanced video analytics, powered by AI, that can alert them to events requiring their attention. These include motion-based notifications for an individual or vehicle entering a restricted space or coming on-site out of hours. AI video analytics from a third-party weapon-detection system can also detect potential weapons hidden on individuals entering the campus.

The system integrates with the district’s broader security infrastructure, including intrusion alarms, access control systems and intercom systems. This enables LPS to manage alarms, door activity and building events alongside video, creating a more unified and coordinated approach to campus safety and post-event investigations.

3xLOGIC’s View Lite II mobile app allows operators to access footage remotely when needed, supporting after-hours responses and equipping on-site security teams with live viewing on tablets for key situational insights and rapid investigations.

Since implementation, LPS has experienced a sustained improvement in student safety outcomes. Vandalism, once a recurring challenge, has been virtually eliminated, with only two major incidents recorded over the past five years. Unauthorized intrusions have also become extremely rare, with just one incident in the past four years and no impact on students or staff.

Centralized video and security system management has improved operator efficiency and oversight, while AI-powered alerts allow operators to focus on other tasks and respond only to events that require their attention and action. Any unusual behavior, vehicle or person entries/exits, or other potential emergencies can be quickly flagged to operators, improving their response times and situational awareness. For instance, video footage of a missing student can provide critical information to operators and law enforcement about the student's direction of travel, clothing and other identifiable features.

Ground teams benefit from the mobile app, giving them real-time video access and intelligence on events that influence their approach and can speed up their actions. For example, AI detection of a concealed weapon will alter how ground teams track and apprehend a potential trespasser. Movement patterns can be relayed to ground teams so they catch a perpetrator before they can access school buildings and students.

“Our security teams can pull up cameras instantly on their tablets, track where someone came from and follow their movement. It makes a huge difference when you’re trying to respond quickly,” Weis said.

The platform supports efficient post-event investigations and stronger collaboration with external law enforcement agencies. Security teams can quickly search for, retrieve and securely share encrypted video evidence, enabling LPS to assist law enforcement with incidents on and around school properties, including vehicle accidents and other local emergencies.

“It’s made investigations much more fluid,” Weis said. “We can quickly scrub through footage, find what we need and act right away.”

The system continues to scale alongside the district. New schools, additional cameras and expanded storage capacity can be integrated with minimal disruption, ensuring LPS can adapt to changing requirements while maintaining consistent coverage and performance. The team can also experiment with new technologies with ease, testing solutions to assess their effectiveness for the district. 

“Having real-time access to video has completely changed how we respond,” Weis said. “Our teams can see what’s happening, track movement across campus and make decisions immediately instead of reacting after the fact.”