Face biometrics in US schools getting more attention and funding

It seems long ago when the prevailing sentiment in the United States was that facial recognition surveillance had no place in primary and secondary schools.

Now, the deals flow there and will very likely increase as the economy and tax receipts grow.

The newest evidence that schools are under increasing biometric surveillance involves a corporate buyout.

Safety notification and student-management firm Singlewire has purchased Visitor Aware, maker of face-matching software for schools. No details about the terms of the deal have been announced.

Visitor Aware, the software product line, requires people wanting to enter or leave a school campus to have their face photo taken and compared to a face image scanned on a photo ID.

Biometric data can be checked against databases that include people who a school district does not want near campus.

Meanwhile, a county school board in Kentucky this month agreed to pay $809,000 for facial recognition system combined with a weapon detection system for its two high school and its learning academy campuses.

ERS Wireless, a regional radio-service vendor primarily selling Motorola goods.

The vote to approve was unanimous, according to radio news station WHOP.

A school board in West Virginia recently signed up for a facial recognition security system from Rank One.

Article Topics

biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  children  |  facial recognition  |  school security  |  schools  |  United States  |  video surveillance  |  visitor management