The Anchorage School District announced plans on Monday to upgrade security camera systems in its schools to help catch vandals.
ASD's Director of Security and Emergency Preparedness, Gardner Cobb, said the new systems could potentially save the schools tens of thousands of dollars in vandalism damage. "Every year we have just as a summer vacation comes around we usually get a rash of vandalisms and it's usually pretty extensive throughout the summer," he said.
The new cameras, which are provided by state funding, will have better data and improve the quality of the picture.
The district's first school security cameras were installed in 2004 at Polaris K-12. The cameras will be improved from an analog system to high-definition.
Officials said they hope to catch vandals with the upgraded high-definition systems and they have already had success at Fairview Elementary School and King Career Center. "Already this year we caught a vandal who created a cost of 3600 dollars in broken windows at KCC," Cobb said.
57 schools currently have security camera systems.
