The Importance of School Cameras

Imagine putting your phone and your Starbucks drink on the cafeteria table so you could quickly use the bathroom, but then you come back out only to find that your phone is missing, and your Starbucks is halfway empty. What would you do?

For my friend Mia Allen at Ben Davis, she went ahead and told the principal. The principal in turn alerted the school’s police and then they both checked the camera to see who stole the phone and drank the drink. With that been said, the school’s cameras are indeed very useful to the safety and security of the school.

Cameras are hardly in teacher’s classroom at BHS, but BHS-TV teacher Mr. Good has a camera in his room. Why? Because he has a lot of expensive equipment and gear in there. That way every student is held accountable for the way they handle all equipment.

When you walk in the hallways, you can easily spot two to three cameras side by side, in which an anonymous student has interpreted it as a bit “excessive” or “too much.” Some even said that it gives them “Big Brother Vibes.” I asked Officer Kritschenko the reason behind having two cameras close to each other in the hallway.

Kritschenko explained that “the cameras capture different angles,” but when you look at the cameras from afar, you can’t tell that they capture different angles. They all look the same.

Kritschenko also gave an insight as to why we needed cameras in school, and it’s not for creepy reason. “It is extremely beneficial when it comes to tracking or locating a student when we don’t know where they are,” she said. This is especially true during a fire drill or when they don’t show up to their next period class. Most of the time, school cameras can deter crime from happening or can sometimes stop a bully from acting out. They are like a pair of eyes for the authorities who cannot be everywhere.

Despite this, school cameras aren’t exactly superheroes. Sometimes it cannot stop bad people who do not fear consequences from doing bad things. What can it do except watch and record? However, the school’s lucky for all the times when cameras have been of help.