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| Laradon protects an eight-acre campus and 800 staff & students with Brivo cloud-based access control |
Brivo Systems LLC, leader in Software as a Service application for security management, recntly announced that Laradon, a human services agency serving children and adults with development disabilities, has chosen Brivo ACS WebService to provide access control management throughout its multi-building educational campus located in Denver, CO. Key-Rite Security is the integrator for this project.
Established in the late 1940s, Laradon was the first charitable organisation in the Rocky Mountain region to offer support, education, and training to children with developmental disabilities. Today, Laradon offers 12 different programs to more than 600 children and adults at their eight-acre campus in northwest Denver.
“We were dramatically affected by the Columbine tragedy,” recalled Annie Green, Laradon’s Deputy Director. “That incident caused us to examine how to better secure our campus. We tightened up security, staff started wearing ID badges, and we had mandatory check-in at our main building front desk, among other measures. We felt an even greater impact by a more recent shooting at a high school 30 minutes away. A transient had been hanging out by a rec center near the high school and ended up taking hostages at the school and shooting some students. We were really impacted by the potential vulnerability of our students. We had to do more.”
“We have gates for van access to the campus; Brivo was able to ensure management for those gates from the same system and interface” |
A contact at another non-profit recommended Brivo Systems to Green and her staff. Laradon contacted their security integrator, Key-Rite, for a demonstration. “Right away we noticed Brivo was easy to operate and it gave us the control we needed,” recalled Green. “We could give only the people we wanted access to certain parts of the campus at specific times — that high level of control.”
Key-Rite offered Laradon a number of access control choices. “We liked Brivo the best,” explained Green. “We have gates for van access to the campus; Brivo was able to ensure management for those gates from the same system and interface. Also, we have older buildings so the system had to fit our need to retro-fit without a lot of extra expense and hassle.”
Laradon began installing Brivo ACS WebService in 2007, and they have since scaled up to 30 doors in 15 buildings, plus three vehicle gates. Recently, a building formerly used for storage and maintenance was converted to program use and as Green recounted, Brivo was added to that building with minimal effort. Under Annie Green’s direction, Laradon’s Quality Assurance and General Services Directors manage day-to-day system administration.
The Brivo system has provided a number of advantages that weren’t apparent when it was first installed. Green explained, “We do use the system to monitor when and where our staffs are on the campus. We have used the key strikes as a back-up Time and Attendance system when staff members forget to sign in. Also, we are able to monitor contract work done on the premises. We recently had some electrical and heat system work done. We could program Brivo to provide the workers a three-hour window in only that building and we could monitor how long they actually worked.”
“We could program Brivo to provide the workers a three-hour window in only that building and we could monitor how long they actually worked” |
The advantages beyond standard access control don’t stop there. Green continued, “We had a termination that did not go so well, so quickly ensuring that person had no continued access gave us very important peace of mind. Also, we have a large courtyard and 40-50 doors that provide access off campus. Formerly, with a lock and key system, we had to rely on our janitorial staff to make sure all those doors were properly locked, it was a constant worry. With Brivo, we don’t worry, we know.” Laradon staff can also manage the Brivo system remotely on those frequent Colorado snow days, giving them access control management from wherever they happen to be.
Green and her staff use the Brivo systems’ alert and report functions as needed to provide them with real-time information for incident investigations. There’s one other nice side benefit to their Brivo system, “All employees have their access cards attached to their IDs. This has been a natural way to improve our staff more consistently wearing their IDs. We like that.”
“Ultimately, we are responsible for the people we serve and our special population is at greater risk. Many don’t understand dangerous situations and they cannot defend themselves. We are their eyes and ears. It is critical that we provide quality services in a safe and nurturing environment. The Brivo system allows us to do that. It takes away many things we no longer have to worry about. We are incredibly satisfied with our Brivo system and Key-Rite Security has been very responsive to our needs,” Green concluded.
