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Jake
Top Member
USA
3502 Posts |
 Posted - 05/04/2011 : 10:06:57 AM
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QUESTION OF THE MONTH:
What are your feelings about video camera surveillance being installed on school buses? While a lot of districts have already taken advantage of such systems, how do you feel about these devices? Do you believe the installation of these devices help keep your bus calmer? Please explain.
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Check out our new discussion forums @ http://schoolbusweb.proboards.com/ |
Edited by - Jake on 05/04/2011 10:07:49 AM
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Jake
Top Member
USA
3502 Posts |
Posted - 05/05/2011 : 1:25:42 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Jake
QUESTION OF THE MONTH:
What are your feelings about video camera surveillance being installed on school buses? While a lot of districts have already taken advantage of such systems, how do you feel about these devices? Do you believe the installation of these devices help keep your bus calmer? Please explain.
I guess I'll be first to answer my own question  .
Honestly, I think cameras do help a lot on buses. Also fills in when there are issues on the bus and the driver and students have different stories. In middle school, our old '91 Bird has an old silent-witness system in it (not sure if it worked, but we always believed it did). I would say it generally helped calm the bus down, because students wouldn't want to misbehave on camera. However, I also believe it causes some students to show off more. I remember there being a fight back then and one of the students commented "i just wanted to look good on camera" after it was all said and done. (Don't think they ended up looking that good, though  ).
I would say about 1/5th or less of our 1,200 bus fleet has video surveillance. Back in the 90s we got a handful of those silent witness systems, and it seems like we keep reusing those. I have yet to see any modern cameras on our buses, but thats not saying that we don't have any. |
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08 Thomas EF
Top Member
508 Posts |
Posted - 05/05/2011 : 5:47:01 PM
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As far as the camera helping improve behavior, we've had cameras (or at least dummy ones, although I do recall them all having flashing lights) for as long as I've been alive, back to when the early and mid '80s buses were in operation. So it's not something that's regarded as grounds for how we behave on the bus.
It all the depends on the driver. Our bus was very orderly with my former driver, now my current driver hardly says a word and people are facing backwards, switching seats while the bus is moving, being loud, throwing things, eating, etc. without prevention, so obviously the camera has no role.
But I believe that buses should have them for obvious reasons. |
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rpardon
New Member
1 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2011 : 11:34:37 AM
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| Who are you and who is Baden Transportation? I can only find you as a "virtual" bus company. Where do your buses live and where do they transport in the event I want to view what your camera systems are doing? |
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corbeil636
Senior Member
Canada
70 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2011 : 12:17:32 PM
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-Note that there is no mention whatsoever to Baden in the thread. |
Lakeview RP. The only Canadian-based school bus role play game on the web!
http://lakeviewtransportation.isgreat.org/index.php |
Edited by - corbeil636 on 05/06/2011 12:19:00 PM |
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fieldsofdreams
New Member
4 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2011 : 1:54:57 PM
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Personally, security cameras on board school buses are a good idea in general to deter bad behavior by students on board by letting drivers, school officials, and administrators look at the behavior of students inside them (because many of them are actually owned by the school districts themselves, which in turn, also own their schools). Similar to security cameras on board transit buses that allow authorities to review such contents as fighting, swearing, or unruly behavior on board buses, putting them inside school buses allows them to view problematic students on board so that they can notify their parents for appropriate actions to reduce such incidents of fighting, bullying, and shouting on board. It can also track scenarios like theft on board buses, as well as harassments and assaults on board them because you never know what you'll expect on board such school buses, especially in violent neighborhoods around the country. The best feature when these are installed: drivers can take out the video from the camera to review any incidents that happened on board, as well as allowing the driver to take necessary steps to reduce such incidents from happening again. It can also track the driver's speed, whereabouts, and his driving behavior as well, which is a bonus, since many bus drivers in real life secretly use cell phones or other electronic devices to keep themselves "entertained" while driving students to or from school.
However, there's a major problem of installing them: protecting student (and driver) privacy. We understand that students have the right to protect themselves from others who may try to "intrude" them, and it can be problematic to put such security features on board and on the outside of the bus because in areas where there are high crime rates, students (and residents) vandalize anything to show their point that the neighborhood is a rough place to be in by spraying graffiti on board and on the outside, destroying equipment, and all others. What's worse: the videos may be used in inappropriate ways as well (you know how many people are, especially dealing with teenagers) that can lead to problems in the school department. And, the worst thing that can happen: since it's installed on board, there is a risk of it being stolen by kids who want to use it as a souvenir by breaking in and removing the equipment.
Overall, it needs to be reviewed first by both the school district and the parents because not only it can protect our children from unwanted bad behavior, but it can cost a lot to maintain and replace them when something goes wrong or a camera gets stolen. I understand that many schools have installed them to increase student safety and keep bad behavior at bay, but, it can also be abused as well by simply turning it off, driving the bus, and not know any incident that can possibly happen on board or on the outside. It needs a lot of discipline from both the driver and the students, and assurance from the school districts and the parents, to really implement such a complicated program throughout the country. |
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94AmTranVolunteer
Advanced Member
264 Posts |
Posted - 05/07/2011 : 6:50:16 PM
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I actually like Camera's being installed in buses. My bus has a Camera, and captures Audio and Video. The Kids on my bus don't know they are being taped and the Surveillance Camera also captures every word they say. The Kids on my bus always says Inappropriate stuff. Some kids on my bus also think its Okay to say Inappropriate stuff (because they are 'old enough', when half of them don't know what they are talking about) and they also don't know that there are little kids (our bus is shared by the whole district, there are kids on my bus that are in Primary school, while there are some from High School) I actually have been bullied by kids on my bus. I have been bullied (not physically, but they've said some terrible stuff about me and have spread rumors). I am a nice person, and try to be nice, but they don't want me to be nice, because they think they can spread rumors and say bad stuff about me.
In fact, I am opening up a topic on Bullying. |
Answering Electrical Problems One at a Time. |
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May '11 QOTM: Video Surveillance on Bus
