The staff at New Life Christian Academy have stepped up security on campus thanks to Watchmen Patrol and a “robot” that utilizes artificial intelligence. Recently, the school introduced its new friend “SCOT,” a Robotic Assistance Devices Security Control Observation Tower that monitors the safety of the Hesperia-based school campus around the clock using cameras with facial recognition. Students and staff were given a demonstration of the 7-foot-high orange and white phone booth-type structure that will sit near the playground of the school that serves 86 preschool through 6th-graders.
Designed by RAD Devices out of Orange County, the camera-equipped tower allows students and staff to interact with the Remote Monitoring Center in Apple Valley, which will call emergency responders should the need arise. Equipped with data gathered from the Department of Justice and other agencies, SCOT will notify authorities if it captures the image of a “known individual” who comes within 400 to 500 feet of the campus, Myers said.
During the demonstration, Watchmen Patrol Senior Operations Manager Andrew Myers explained to the students how help could be summoned with a touch of a button. “The help button on SCOT contacts a person monitoring the campus at our Remote Monitoring Center in Apple Valley. But the voice you hear is not coming from someone inside the box,” Myers told the students. “So if you sense danger in the area, you can go straight to SCOT for help.” The tower, which can also detect individuals with a firearm or driving a stolen vehicle, is also equipped with an alarm that will sound by pressing the panic button or by the monitoring center.
“If someone decides to damage SCOT, the cameras will pick up the image of the perpetrator and relay it to authorities,” Myers told the Daily Press. “SCOT’s facial recognition software will also pick up the image of the person trying to vandalize SCOT.” Each self-powered and “self-sufficient intelligence” observation tower is also equipped with license plate recognition, cellular connectivity and WiFi capabilities, Myers said. In one instance involving another campus, a student who was not picked up after school and could not contact their parents engaged with SCOT to reach a guard at the monitoring center, who called the student’s parents and remained in contact with the student until their parents arrived.
Locally, SCOTs are being used at Costco Wholesale, Excelsior Charter High School and Desert Community Bank, officials said. The towers are also being used nationally at distribution and storage centers, data centers, high-value outdoor areas, homeowners associations and other restricted properties. “With this technology, a lot of people fear the loss of security jobs in the industry,” Myers said. “With our company, our security guards are going to be trained as alarm responders so no one should fear the lost jobs due to automation.”
New Life Christian Academy Principal Debbie Lund, who’s been with the private school for nearly 20 years, told the Daily Press that SCOT will be used in addition to New Life’s current active shooter training. “One of our parents, whose name is Anthony Wiggins, came to me in February with a picture of a security robotic that is being used at Costco,” Lund said. “We had several discussions about the security system and I finally took the idea to my boss who thought it would be a win-win for everyone.” Wiggins, who is the owner of Watchmen Patrol, told the Daily Press he’s picking up the tab for the tower’s $2,400 monthly monitoring charge. “It’s a chunk of change, but I want the best protection for my daughter and everyone at New Life Academy,” Wiggins said. “It’s the most peaceful and non-threatening protection that you can have right now, and the technology in that tower is beyond amazing.” A technology buff at heart, Wiggins said he discovered RAD Devices online and quickly met with the CEO of the company, who agreed to work with Watchmen Patrol in providing security at Costco
