Hijacking Prompts South Carolina School Bus Upgrades

Richland School District Two will add live video streaming and GPS to their Safe Fleet surveillance systems.

by SBF Staff

August 25, 2021

Hijacking Prompts South Carolina School Bus Upgrades — The hijacking of a South Carolina school bus in May prompted plans for a surveillance tech upgrade.
*Photo courtesy Safe Fleet*

2 min to read

A South Carolina school district will upgrade its 170 existing Safe Fleet surveillance systems with integrated live video streaming and GPS using Seon-branded cameras and DVRs.

“We already have the ability to download video wirelessly and planned to implement live streaming,” said Wayne Norton, transportation director for Richland School District Two in Columbia, S.C. “Live video streaming and GPS will help us quickly assess and proactively respond to any emergency situation in the future.”

South Carolina School Bus Driver, Students Safe After Hijacking

The upgraded technology will allow the school district to:

Give district administration and real-time emergency responders real-time access to live video inside the bus and pinpoint the bus’s location for rapid response.
Monitor and make better decisions in response to an emergency as it unfolds.
Provide students on the bus with internet connectivity via wi-fi hotspot.

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott is helping drive the initiative in the wake of a May 6 hijacking of a school bus by a Fort Jackson trainee. The sheriff said the technology could be valuable in critical situations and he wants live video streaming available on all buses within his jurisdiction.

How to Prepare for Potential Threats to School Bus Safety, Security

A neighboring school district, Lexington Five, is using Safe Fleet’s “Super Bus,” said Chris Akiyama, vice president of the school bus division at Safe Fleet. That bus is equipped with live video streaming, GPS services, 360-degree “around vehicle” monitoring, and a predictive stop arm that uses radar technology to help protect students outside the bus.

Topics:video surveillance GPS Emergency Response Safe Fleet Safety

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