News and Information

New software will screen visitors at schools
Wednesday, Aug 22, 2007, By EVA-MARIE AYALA, Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Ft. Worth, Texas – Nikki Alsabrook has five children and considers herself on constant high alert to their safety. But even as a parent volunteer in Mansfield, she said she can't always know who is passing through her children's schools. "We never know as parents when a registered sex offender is on campus, but the school officials need to be aware of that," she said.

This year Mansfield school officials will know. All campus visitors will be required to scan their driver's licenses to sign in, and the system will check them against registered sex offender databases from 49 states and print a disposable photo ID badge.

Deputy Superintendent Bob Morrison said the district's decision to use the system, known as V-Soft, was not triggered by an incident. The district was approached by Houston-based Raptor Technologies about using the software. "We felt it was a good idea to increase the security of our campuses," he said. "We have the right to make sure our students are in a safe environment."

Flagging sex offenders

If a person is flagged, the system will send a text message or e-mail to notify Mansfield school police and the campus administration, who will monitor the visitor while on campus.

The district will deny campus access to anyone refusing to submit their license to be scanned.

A new state law allows districts to require photo identification for school access and to collect database information for district security. V-Soft was created by Raptor Technologies President Allan Measom for Enron security. It is now used in 388 school districts in 28 states, marketing director Carol Measom said.

The start-up costs about $1,500 per campus for hardware and license fees and then $434 per campus annually.

The company recently received a grant from the Justice Department for a pilot program to install the software at schools in all 50 states to monitor its effectiveness.

Measom said that in Florida, the system has been responsible for catching a handful of offenders who failed to register after moving, a third-degree felony in that state.

Monitoring visitors

Eagle Mountain-Saginaw became the first district in Tarrant County to use the technology in 2005. That district's spokeswoman, Kristen Escovedo, said it was received with no resistance.

"We thought we'd get a lot of privacy concerns, but the biggest complaint we have is that people don't want their driver's license picture on their badge," she said.

When the system has flagged someone, Escovedo said it has been someone who has a legitimate reason for being on campus as a parent or guardian.

In those cases, school officials bring the student to the office or assign a monitor to accompany the registered sex offender.

"You can get a report of who was on campus, where they went and what they did," she said. "So if something ever comes out, then you can look and see exactly who was there Monday."

Checking visitors

The Mansfield school district will require all campus visitors to scan in their driver's license or a government-issued photo ID card when they arrive.

How it works: The software matches identifying information against all states' registered sex offender databases except Hawaii's, which does not include identifiers such as age and date of birth.

Who uses it: About 3,000 schools in 28 states, most of them in Texas, Florida and Illinois.

Sex offenders: There are 444 registered sex offenders in Arlington and 41 in Mansfield, the two largest cities within the Mansfield school district boundaries.