Nashville schools will use face-recognition cameras*

Classroom-security test is first in U.S.

By THOMAS FRANK
USA Today

The Metro Nashville school system plans to become the first in the
nation to use security cameras that spot intruders by using
controversial, cutting-edge, face-recognition technology.

Starting Dec. 1, the 75,000-student district will equip Harpeth Valley
Elementary, Gra-Mar Middle and Antioch High School and an administration
building with cameras that sound alarms when they detect an unfamiliar
face or someone barred from school grounds, Assistant Superintendent
Ralph Thompson said.

"This will give us an edge in providing safety for our students and
teachers," Thompson said. Several intruders have entered Nashville
schools in the past year, he said.

A successful test in Nashville could prod other schools to try the
technology, said Peter Pochowski, executive director of the National
Association of School Safety and Law Enforcement Officers. He said, "The
vendors are out there looking for customers," calling Nashville the
first school system to use face-recognition cameras.

The technology is denounced by civil libertarians and has been discarded
by police departments in Tampa, Fla., and Virginia Beach, Va., which
found face-recognition cameras downtown did not help spot wanted criminals.

Nashville will take digital photos of students and workers at the three
test schools and store them in the new camera system, Thompson said.
When a camera spots a face in a school that it cannot match to a stored
photo, it will alert security. The system also could detect suspended
and expelled students and fired employees, Thompson said.

The system costs $30,000, which is coming from the security department's
budget this year. If the pilot program is a success, the board will
decide at the end of the school year whether to take it districtwide.

2 cities gave up cameras

"Schools should not feel like some sort of prison," said Melissa Ngo of
the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

Jay Stanley of the American Civil Liberties Union said that because the
cameras identify people, their widespread use could let authorities
"track you throughout the day."

Schools have grown more open to security technology since the Columbine
shootings in 1999, though many lack money for high-tech devices, said
Ken Trump, a school safety consultant.

Many urban schools have networks of security cameras monitored from a
control room.

Some use radio-frequency ID cards to track students as they board buses
and enter buildings. Others check visitors' names against databases of
sex offenders.

An elementary school in Phoenix installed face-recognition cameras in
2004 to find sex offenders but never turned them on because of concern
they would flag innocent people, said Carol Donaldson of the Washington
Elementary School District.

Matches are not guaranteed, said Jonathon Phillips, head of the National
Institute of Standards and Technology's face-recognition program.

Phillips said the cameras have problems in poor lighting or if they
photograph at an angle and cannot fully view a face. A test last year in
a German subway system found that cameras spotted only half of the test
subjects, Phillips said.