The Kentucky School Boards Association (KSBA) is delighted with their recently-upgraded 3xLOGIC video surveillance system, installed and monitored by Sonitrol of Lexington, SDM’s 2018 Dealer of the Year. 

The Kentucky School Boards Association was established in 1936 and represents 863 school board members from across the state to provide training, services, and collegiality to aid in the effort of providing the best education possible for public school students across Kentucky. KSBA is a long-time Sonitrol of Lexington customer, going on 25 years. Hence, Sonitrol and Danny Goodpaster, Security Consultant, were well positioned to understand KSBA’s situation and recommend the solution best suited for their needs.

“About three years ago, during the budgeting process, we had an incident in our parking lot in which there was a minor fender bender,” related Jeff Million, print shop and operations manager for KSBA. “The camera watching the parking lot was only 30 feet away, but I could not even make out identifying writing on the car that struck the other car. On another occasion, we had a break-in and from three feet away I could not make a positive ID on the perpetrator. After these incidents, things got rolling and we soon embarked on upgrading our video surveillance capabilities.”

Goodpaster wrote the first upgrade proposal in 2016. After some discussion about installing a hybrid DVR, KSBA at Goodpaster’s urging decided to remove the analog cameras and go full IP. Now, the organization has four static cameras and two 3xLOGIC Multi-sensor devices, trained on the front door and the back door, loading dock, and parking lot. The Multi-sensor device is also equipped with impact-activated audio, glass-break, and motion detection along with video and audio verification of alarm activations.

The Multi-sensors are connected to an updated Sonitrol panel and they provide video feeds, as well as glass-break and audio verification for both entrances. “With our former system, I’d get the first call on alarm, but often I did not have enough video information to make an informed decision,” Million said. “Now, I have the data and the images I need to deal quickly with any situation.”

Goodpaster recalled that there was a lot of competition for this business. “KSBA really did their homework.” At the end of the day, it was the Multi-sensor’s video and audio verification that provided KSBA with real, tangible benefits they could feel. Further, between the Sonitrol app and VIGIL Client software installed on Million’s laptop, KSBA now has a fully-integrated solution, as opposed to the two separate systems they had before. The four non-monitored cameras are overseen by 3xLOGIC VIGIL Central Management software (VCM), so if any equipment issues arise, Sonitrol knows immediately and can act to proactively solve them.

“We really do like our new cameras, and we are light years ahead of where we were as far as quality and ease of use with the 3xLOGIC system,” Million said. “We now have video verification capabilities. Before I’d get a phone call, while away from the office, providing video images but I couldn’t make anything out. I’d have to head home to view the video and I still didn’t have sufficient resolution to make out what was happening. The new cameras also provide a better field of view; I’m picking up my entire parking lot, before I could only see half of it.”

Million continued, “Recently, we had a forced entry attempt on the front door, and we went to the video. We could immediately resolve what had happened — that’s real peace of mind. We have to make quick decisions, and in the event of a real incident, we’re shaving at least 10 minutes off of police response times.”