Successful security design for Courts projects must efficiently satisfy the specific requirements of the three distinct groups that utilize those facilities:
- The Public
- The Judiciary
- The Offenders
The movement of these groups must be separated and monitored until they come together in the courtroom.
PUBLIC ISSUES
The primary issue for public security design is effective screening of contraband that would constitute a threat to the occupants of the Courts facility. The objective is to promote public safety while providing an efficiently accessible and “community friendly” building. Traditional metal detection and organic/inorganic scanning are the technologies that are conventionally deployed for this function. Ion sensor equipment utilized for the detection of minute explosive substance particles should also be considered to complete the screening process. The arrangement of the screening station must be configured to allow efficient movement of the public with the expected traffic flow including the required percentage of detailed inspections. The placement of the screening station should provide adequate space for staging as the public enters the facility and, optimally, the design is enhanced if the equipment can be integrated into the architectural design of the building.
Closed circuit television is deployed throughout the public spaces for general surveillance. It is recommended that digital video capture technology be utilized for recording purposes. This is the best solution available for archiving today for historical data archiving and is the most efficient method for retrieving information in the event an incident occurs and back up is required. Digital video is also the best method to provide information immediately to security staff to allow the best immediate response to a security breach.
Future applications of video technology will actually involve real-time facial recognition screening of the public when entering the facility. The CCTV surveillance system will be interfaced directly to active criminal suspect databases and potential threats will be monitored and alarmed before the individual enters the facility.
JUDICIARY ISSUES
In consideration of the best security design for the judiciary the primary concern will always address maintaining a well-defined security perimeter. Immediately upon entering the facility, access control technology should be deployed to create secured parking space. The preferred design will allow individuals to remain in their vehicles until inside the protected area. A direct, restricted access pathway should be created from the parking area to the judiciary workspace providing efficient protected movement.
The access door to the courtroom should be simple to enter and a means to quickly “manually” lock the door after exiting the courtroom should be provided in the event an incident occurs. The judges bench should be equipped with ballistic-rated material to provide an area of refuge.
The judge’s bench and chambers should be configured with signaling devices to activate a duress call. Annunciation of the duress call should be routed to a 24/7-security post. In the event that a designated post is not available, the design solution should utilize wireless technology to provide alpha-numeric messaging to security personnel for immediate response to the call.
Future monitoring technology will utilize wireless duress signaling to allow the judiciary to call for support anywhere inside the facility and the security personnel will automatically receive a pin-point location of the individual. This technology could also be extended beyond the boundaries of the facility.
OFFENDER ISSUES
The security design must provide for efficient offender transport and holding within the facility. The optimum design provides a well-defined security perimeter around the offender at all times beginning from the secured sallyport at the offender entrance to the secured court holding areas. Complete separation of the offender from the judiciary and the public is the ultimate goal of good design practice.
CCTV surveillance with digital recording should be provided to cover the entire movement pathway of the offender inside the facility. This system is utilized to track the position of the offender as well as document the occurrence and conditions present in case an incident occurs.
The trend in future courtroom technology is moving to provide for the interaction of the offender, as required by the court proceedings, without requiring the physical presence of the offender. By utilizing traditional video conferencing technology, the security issues created by the physical movement of offenders will be virtually eliminated.
Geothermal Energy Facts: Geothermal Energy Pros and Cons
There is much talk about climate change, and the search for viable renewable energy sources. Everyone knows about the likes of solar, wind and wave power. But fewer have heard of geothermal, or know how does geothermal energy work. So here are some geothermal energy facts, which may help you understand the benefits and restrictions of geothermal energy.
How Does Geothermal Energy Work
The principle of this form of energy is quite simple. The ground beneath our feet gets heated by the sun on a daily basis. However, it is also a great insulator, and so retains a vast amount of this heat as stored energy. The idea is that pipes are run through a fairly large area of ground several feet down, where the temperature is more constant. Then, water is passed through the pipes, heating it.
The primary use for this type of energy is heating, as a regulated temperature can be achieved constantly with little variation dependent on time of year. It can also be used over larger areas to provide hot water, but this needs more time in the ground so more pipework and a greater area.
Geothermal Energy Pros and Cons
The advantages of geothermal energy are that once the initial investment is paid for, and energy is relatively free. And it's clean. There is little or no reliance on power from gas or electricity to provide heat, which is one of the main uses of energy in the home. The main need for electricity to run this system is for pumps to pump the water through the system. The advantages of geothermal energy are that it is cheap, once the ground works are done, and incredibly green energy. There are no emissions from the provision of heat for the home and water.
The disadvantages of geothermal energy are the initial expense and the amount of land required. It can cost thousands to dig out the land and lay the pipes. This is one of the geothermal energy problems and why it is not widely used. Another of the disadvantages about geothermal energy is that it requires a fair sized piece of land to implement. People with a fair-sized garden will be ok, but it is not possible to install in the yard of a Victorian terrace.
One possibility that some people use is a new system where pilings are drilled into the ground, with the pipe work in the foundations. Because pilings go much deeper into the ground, they gain the distance that is required underground to heat the water. This is great for new build homes, but obviously cannot be achieved in older homes.
How Many People Use Geothermal Energy
Because of the initial costs and need for space, geothermal energy is not widely used. It is becoming more popular in single builds however, and could provide an efficient method for providing heat for buildings such as apartments and new build housing estates through district heating systems or individual heating through pipes in the pilings. Because it is so expensive, it is unlikely that house building companies will install the systems in homes in the near future. But hopefully it could become the way we provide all our heat energy needs in the future.
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French Associates, architectural firm headquaters incorporates geothermal systems and has been in opperation for close to 15 years.
Video Conferencing - Courthouses Are Making the Change
In the wake of the tragic shootings that took place in an Atlanta courthouse in 2005,Visit Here http://videoconferencingbasics.blogspot.com/
it is unequivocally clear that there is now a widespread effort by numerous counties to significantly enhance courtroom security. Most counties are addressing the security issue through technology, and the type that appears to be implemented the most is video conferencing. Already in use by legal systems throughout the world, video conferencing is revolutionizing the way cases are tried in America today. By simply installing one video conferencing system at the courthouse and another at the jail, incarcerated defendants can participate in all legal procedures without the municipality enduring the costs and dangers associated with jail-to-courthouse prisoner transport.
The monetary savings to a county become clear when one considers that costly resources need to be allocated, such as: several policemen, a vehicle, courthouse security, gasoline and tolls, among others. Depending on several factors, among them the distance of the courthouse to the jail and geographic location, these costs can sometimes reach into the thousands, even for just one trip. Over the course of a year, the result is a hefty bill that video conferencing aims to eliminate. In October of 2003, the Wisconsin Office of Justice Assistance, at the request of the Badger State Sheriff's Association, which represents sheriff departments in various Wisconsin counties, initiated a study into the possible time and cost-saving benefits of video conferencing. The study revealed a savings of about $2.7 million if all counties used the technology. That data, along with the obvious security benefits, was enough for Wisconsin's Green County to move ‘full speed ahead' with video conferencing.
Like many courthouses, Green County's proposed video conferencing system had been in the planning stages for quite some time and the incident in Atlanta proved to be the spark needed to move the project forward. In an interview featured in an article by Brian Gray of the Monroe Times, Green County Circuit Court Judge James Beer said, "video conferencing is the wave of future. It shows the court is moving into the 21st century." The equipment will enable doctors to appear at mental health proceedings and people who are serving time in prison to appear remotely. "The benefits are limitless. It saves the county a great deal of money and also increases security here at the courthouse."
Video conferencing in the court room also has other uses. In Pennsylvania's Montgomery County, large police departments such as Abington (92 officers) use the technology not only to handle on-camera arraignments for smaller departments in the county but also to digitally process and transmit photographs and fingerprints into criminal databases. In minutes, police can have fingerprints and photographs matched with a defendant's criminal record. In an interview featured in an article by Harry Yanoshak of the Bucks County Courier Times, Montgomery Deputy Chief John Livingood said, "Because it has such technology, Abington and other large departments serve as a central booking center for defendants. Video arraignments are time savers because defendants never have to leave the police station to see the judge. If we had to take a person to see the judge in person, it would effectively take two officers out of service for at least a couple of hours," he said, noting the length of time could be longer if the on-call judge is located across the county.
In Montgomery County, police and deputy sheriffs, rarely constables, shuttle defendants to the county prison, said District Judge Paul Leo, whose court in Hatboro has used video conferencing for about two years. While the technology enables a judge to do work from home, that's not how it's being used in his courtroom, he said, noting how the courts should remain open to the public, regardless if the proceeding is captured on a computer screen.Visit Here http://videoconferencingbasics.blogspot.com/
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Attend to process
French Associates, states you are not doing an effective job of marketing if all you do is put up a billboard. You are not doing a good job of communication if all you do is publish four newsletters each year. Marketing, communication, and school elections are all processes. Each of these processes begins when you decide to do something. None of these processes has an ending.
An election campaign is not a single thing or event. It is a complex process that must be goal-oriented and flexible enough to accommodate changes in the campaign environment.
Tip Four: Process requires people and a plan. Winners know what they want from their "three Ps"-their plan, their process, and their people. And, here's a bonus tip related to process: Don't get trapped into believing that your campaign ends on election day. Actually, that's the day your next election begins and the election process recycles.
Know people's perceptions
Do you know what people think about when they think about your schools? Do you know what they like and don't like about the school district? Do you understand what school information they want and how they want it delivered? Unless you have completed a survey, odds are you are just guessing at the answers to the above questions.
Perceptions are important to understand. You can have great schools but if the perception is that you have mediocre schools, guess what? You have mediocre schools.
If public perception is that the new high school you plan to build is too expensive, guess what? Your election may be headed south.
Tip Three: Understand that subjective perceptions usually count for more than objective information. Get a statistically sound assessment of perceptions in your school district. Then keep it up to date.
Contact French Associates, School deisgners for K-12 schools
MSD Washington Township scored big at the polls on May 4. The school corporation passed its referendum by more than 70%.
French Associates, Architects strategic alliance partner-Banach, Banach & Cassidy-worked on the campaign with Washington Township citizens and school officials. BB&C conducted a pre-election telephone survey in the community, managed the voter data base, and provided strategic counsel during the referendum campaign. Washington Township's citizen committee leadership graduated from the Campaign College conducted in Indianapolis by French Associates and BB&C.
TIP 2 from French Associates
Know who will vote
If we called a one-hour school election for two o'clock this afternoon, three categories of people would show up-yes voters, no voters, and undecided voters. The same categories of people will show up at the school election that you have called for next year. The challenge is to discover how many of each category resides in your school district. Once that is done, the job that needs doing is fairly straightforward: Reinforce yes voters, generally ignore no voters, and try to move the undecideds into the yes voter column.
Tip Two: Know how many yes voters you need to win. Find them and get them to the polls on election day.
Exerts from the New York Times
"EDUCATION LIFE SUPPLEMENT"
The Feng Shui of Schools By Kate Zernike (NYT)
The Incredible Lightness
Experts agree most on the importance of daylight and windows in the classroom. Consider the results of a 1999 study done for the California Board for Energy Efficiency, which tracked 21,000 students in three school districts in three states.
In Capistrano, Calif., students in classrooms with the most daylight improved 20 percent faster on math tests and 26 percent faster on reading tests over one year than students in classrooms with the least. Moving a child from the classroom with the least daylight to one with the most produced the same improvement as moving that child from the lowest to the highest performing school in the district.
In Seattle, the second of the three districts, the amount of daylight was ''a more potent predictor'' of student performance than sex, class size or whether the student came from a single-parent household, the study found. There and in Fort Collins, Colo., students in classrooms with more daylight had scores 7 to 18 percent higher than those in classrooms without daylight.
The three districts had students with similar backgrounds but different teaching styles, building designs and climates. The consistent results, researchers say, indicate the importance of lighting, no matter what else happens in the classroom.
C. Kenneth Tanner, a professor at the School Design and Planning Laboratory at the University of Georgia, argues that students in windowless classrooms -- built especially in the 1970's as architects tried to make buildings more efficient in heating and cooling -- are experiencing a kind of jet lag because their circadian rhythms are depressed by lack of natural light.
Windows also improve airflow, another critical element in school design. In the California study, students in classrooms with windows that could open progressed about 8 percent faster over one year than those in classrooms with fixed windows, regardless of whether there was air-conditioning. The key, said Jeffery A. Lackney, an assistant professor of engineering at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, is that the air completely recirculate one and a half times an hour. Reading comprehension declines as room temperature rises above 74 degrees, he said, and addition and subtraction skills decline when a room becomes warmer than 77 degrees.
A school district's architect can make board members look like heroes or goats. And an architect can directly affect a school district's educational program - positively or negatively - for 50 years or more! For these reasons-and many others- there can be little doubt that selecting an archtect ranks as one of the most important decisions a school board has to make.
Before you decide what architectural firm your school district will hire, develop some decision-making criteria. Give the list to every architectural firm that will submit on your project, an tell all of them that you will use the criteria in making your decision.
SCHOOL DISTRICT CRITERIA FOR SELECTING AN ARCHITECT
A briefing from
French Associates and
Banach, Banach & Cassidy
Almost everyone believes that education is important. And, almost everybody says that we must invest in our children because they are "the future." Given these beliefs, it seems that school districts should win every election they bring to the voters. Au contraire!
People vote in school elections for myriad reasons. This is what makes every election unique. Yet, school districts that tend to win at the polls do exhibit some characteristics that losers don't. The winning characteristics and some related tips are the subject of this article.
Build a support base
School leaders know that most voters in school elections decide how to vote long before election day. On election day voters step in to the voting booth, close the curtain, and pull one of two levers-yes or no.
School leaders also understand that campaigns don't win elections. Campaigns simply harness support that is already there.
And where does this support come from? It is the result of doing good over time. It is also the result of making sure people in your community know about your good work. Put differently, when school people compromise on communication with their constituents, they build barriers to election success.
Tip One: Think long-term. Build a base of support for your schools by doing good work, engaging people in the educational process, and communicating effectively. Use campaigns to reinforce the support base that you build and tap it for yes votes on election day.