Al-Cor ID installs RFID school security system

Liska Biometry, a US-based provider of biometric identification solutions, has announced that its Al-Cor ID Solutions subsidiary has won a contract for a pilot project to install and support an RFID system to enhance the security of students and staff in public schools.

Installation has begun and, when the system is proved successful, the contract makes it possible to implement the system in over 50 schools, identifying some 100,000 students and faculty. At the time of writing, Liska would not reveal the location or the name of the board of education involved, "for security reasons". 76.229.124.94 This article is copyright 2007 UsingRFID.com.

Pilot project
The pilot project consists of enrolling and authenticating over 2,500 students in one school, using handheld PDAs and RFID cards for each student and staff member. Other schools have already expressed interest in implementing the Al-Cor solution, assuming the pilot project is successful.

The RFID system is expected to help safeguard students and schools by making it possible for administrators and security personnel to identify every student as well as individuals who are not authorized to be on campus.

According to Christopher LeClerc, president of Liska, "This is our first contract for security products and support services in the educational security arena. We believe that there is a significant demand for this kind of protection in our elementary and secondary schools as well as at colleges and other seats of learning."

Security benefits
The system, once fully operational, will allow the school's security personnel to use a handheld device to read the RFID chip on each student ID card, and know immediately who is where they are supposed to be, who isn't, and who represents a potential security risk to the students or faculty.

As part of the contract, Liska will provide operational support, ensuring the system remains finely tuned to the needs of the school and the security personnel using it. The entire system can also later be upgraded to the full Liska Software Suite if administrators deem it useful, bringing further security capabilities to the school district.

LeClerc concluded, "We believe that the school security market will be able to benefit greatly from our biometric solutions for rapid identity authentication. We are already pursuing other school districts, and the outlook is promising."