British Columbia school district uses Milestone XProtect to centrally manage video across 25 sites while building toward a more proactive approach to school safety.
Milestone Systems, a provider of open-platform video management software (VMS), is helping Cariboo-Chilcotin School District 27 (SD27) manage video security across approximately 28,000 square miles of central British Columbia.
Based in Williams Lake, SD27 serves approximately 4,600 students and nearly 1,000 staff across 22 schools and 25 total sites. With schools spread across a vast geographic area and no staff dedicated to continuously monitoring cameras, the district needed a video security platform that could be centrally managed, expanded over time, and accessed remotely.
Working with local integrator O-Netrix Solutions, SD27 transitioned its video security infrastructure to Milestone XProtect VMS. Video is recorded and stored locally at each site, while servers connect to the district’s data center in Williams Lake for centralized management and event alerts.
The deployment currently includes 78 cameras, with integrations supporting IQSIGHT cameras, Radionix intrusion alarms, Bogen public address (PA) systems, and HALO vape detection sensors.
“A lot of our elementary schools had nothing before this,” said Kyle Riley, IT coordinator for SD27.
“Getting cameras on those front doors was the first step, and Milestone made it easy to bring them into the same system we were already managing from Williams Lake.”
From Investigation to Prevention
The system is already delivering practical benefits across the district. At the remote Tatla Lake fuel depot, ongoing fuel theft stopped after cameras were installed.
At Lake City Secondary, HALO vape detection sensors alert administrators when vaping is detected. A pilot camera deployment also enables staff to correlate these alerts with video footage from the same period.
SD27 currently uses XProtect primarily for forensic investigations, but its longer-term goal is to move toward prevention. At 108 Mile House Elementary, the district has been testing IQSIGHT camera analytics designed to detect loitering and trigger notifications and automated announcements through the school’s Bogen PA system.
The district is taking a measured approach, working with O-Netrix and IQSIGHT to address false detections before considering broader deployment.
“We’re not trying to rush any of this. The goal is to have a system that people trust and that actually works the way it’s supposed to,” Riley said.
“Getting the analytics dialed in, making sure notifications go to the right people, extending coverage to the schools that still need it, that’s our roadmap. Milestone gives us the platform to do all of that on our own timeline.”
Milestone Systems is a global provider of data-driven video technology serving industries including manufacturing, airports, law enforcement, retail, and traffic management. Its portfolio includes XProtect video management software, BriefCam AI-powered analytics, and Arcules cloud video surveillance as a service (VSaaS). www.milestonesys.com
Internal Links URLs
https://security.world/category/video-surveillance
https://security.world/category/security-technology
External Links URLs
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. How is Milestone Systems helping School District 27?
Milestone XProtect enables SD27 to centrally manage video security across 25 sites spanning approximately 28,000 square miles.
2. How many cameras are included in the deployment?
The current deployment includes 78 cameras.
3. Which technologies are integrated with XProtect?
The deployment includes IQSIGHT cameras, Radionix intrusion alarms, Bogen PA systems, and HALO vape detection sensors.
4. How is the district using video analytics?
SD27 is testing IQSIGHT analytics to detect loitering and trigger notifications and automated announcements through school PA systems.
5. What is the district’s long-term security goal?
SD27 aims to move beyond reviewing incidents after they occur toward a more proactive approach to school safety.