News and Information

Computer may keep schools safe
Phil Luciano, Journal Star News, Peoria, IL

Thursday, July 21, 2005 – Wallowing through e-mails this week, I happened upon a pitch about a new school-security system that hundreds of schools nationally have adopted.

District 150 plans to see if the system might keep sex offenders out of Peoria schools.

Last week, I wrote about the Illinois State Police's online sex-offender registry. The agency provided tips about how to deal with sex offenders in your neighborhood.

One suggestion: If you see a sex offender near a school, call the cops. Sex offenders are not supposed to visit places where kids congregate.

That column prompted an e-mail from Raptor Technologies, a 3-year-old company based in Houston.

"There's nobody else out there who does what we do," says Rick Roman, Raptor's Midwest manager. The company has created software that integrates with 43 state sex-offender databases. Through Raptor, schools can access all of that information.

Many schools simply make visitors sign a log. Then they scrawl their name on a guest badge worn on a lapel. That's hardly an airtight way to keep out bad guys.

Instead, at a school's check-in point, Raptor sets up a computer monitor, scanner and printer. A visitor's driver's license or state ID is scanned. Then the software checks the name and birth date for matches with the 43 sex-offender databases.

If nothing matches, the printer churns out a badge that includes the guest's photo and the reason for the visit. That way, if the guest is supposed to be (for example) in the principal's office, teachers and administrators can start asking questions if the guest is seen wandering around the gym or other non-specified areas.

If the system finds a match among the sex-offender databases, an instant message is sent to the principal, security officer or local police - depending on how the school sets up its protocol. Schools also can augment the system with local data - for example, by noting a restraining order that prohibits a parent from going near a student.

Mind you, the system isn't foolproof. It doesn't make complete criminal-background checks. Plus, sex offenders sometimes (as in Illinois) are dropped from databases after a decade.

Although the company wasn't able to provide exact figures for "hits," the system has repeatedly detected sex offenders. One recent case, according to Roman, involved a school that got a hit on the soda machine vendor who was checked in through the system.

Still, Raptor does seem to offer an extra layer of protection for schoolkids. I've found no stories online refuting the system. And the price seems reasonable. The hardware (monitor, scanner, printer) has a one-time cost of $1,500 per school. Raptor also charges $36 a month per school to maintain and update the computer information.

According to Raptor, PTAs sometimes hold fund-raisers to cover the costs. News clips from cities with Raptor-protected schools quote parents raving about the new process.

So far, the system has been adopted by 800 schools, mostly in Texas and Florida. Moline schools currently are looking at the idea.

I passed the information on to Superintendent Ken Hinton. Though he'd never heard of the system, he sounded interested in learning more. "I'll definitely look into this," he said.

PHIL LUCIANO is a columnist with the Journal Star. He can be reached at pluciano@pjstar.com, 686-3155 or (800) 225-5757, Ext. 3155.