Good for Cory Falls

[tvguy]

• Wow, this was Winter's great idea of something to spend all of that money on?? Did anyone else have any input or was Winters a King who just a proclaimed this must be so?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Sheriff Falls pulls plug on Shady Cove video security system
  Sheriff rejects Winters' lone-school system in favor of deputies close at hand
  
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  In this photo from June 2013, former Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters shows off a security system he championed that allowed law enforcement real-time surveillance in an emergency at a Shady Cove school. By the time Winters left office, the room sported 22 screens. Mail Tribune file photo
  
  
  
  
  
  
• By Nick Morgan
  Mail Tribune
  
  Posted Oct. 29, 2015 at 12:01 AM
  
  
  
  A security system that cost more than a quarter-million dollars and would allow the Jackson County Sheriff's Department real-time surveillance inside an elementary school in crisis has been abandoned.The 22 Toshiba HDTVs lining two walls of a room sit dark, along with five, four-monitor computer workstations.
  
  
• They were part of a command center for a first-of-its-kind security system installed in 2013 inside one of Jackson County's smallest schools, Shady Cove, under the administration of then-Sheriff Mike Winters.Other hardware pieces from the command center are still used as auxiliary dispatch equipment, but Sheriff Corey Falls, who unseated Winters in 2014, decided not to renew the department's annual contract with the systems' designer last spring.Falls considers well-trained first-responders located near the schools to be a better use of resources.
  
  
  
  
• "I think you have to have well-trained deputies that are monitoring your schools in order to respond in a timely manner," Falls said.Falls said beyond annual expenses in the contract, the system required him to devote a staff member to focus on one school — something he saw as a distraction."We have around 20 schools that we're responsible for in unincorporated Jackson County," Falls said.
  
  
•  "It's important to keep all those schools safe."The new sheriff's shift in priorities is a disappointment for Lawrence Winslow, president and CEO of Future Concepts, makers of the school security system and command center."They were one of the first ones," Winslow said of Jackson County. "This new sheriff doesn't embrace technology. 
  
  
  
• "Future Concepts' NEXARsos system was installed over Memorial Day weekend in 2013 and equipped each Shady Cove elementary and middle school classroom with security cameras and a bright red "Emergency" button that could alert local law enforcement of an incident such as a school shooter.Law enforcement could then tap into surveillance cameras at the school, control all locks remotely, use school intercoms and even switch multicolored lights above classroom doors to direct authorities to the threat.The system cost $278,333 to install and was paid for with funds seized from drug forfeitures, according to Jackson County senior deputy administrator Harvey Bragg.
  
  
• Adroit Construction and Precision Electric donated labor involved in the installation at the school, according to Mike Winters.Winslow said annual service costs were $3,588 to monitor the school, plus a minimum $19,000 needed to pair the footage to the command center at the sheriff's department.Still prominently featured on the NEXARsos.com website is a seven-minute promotional video showing law enforcement reacting to an alarm and observing surveillance camera footage from the Shady Cove school.
  
  
•  The footage is presented as a contrast to the several minutes' delay in police response time to the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre in 2012. Winters is quoted in the video: "Time equals lives," he says.Winters said last week he stands by his decision to use Future Concepts' systems.
  
  
•  He said the systems were purchased within budget."The more systems you can use to save manpower — that's the direction you need to go," Winters said.Winters said the money that purchased Future Concepts' equipment couldn't have been used on staff."The money that put that system in wasn't at the expense of wage and benefit packages for deputies," he said.Winters said he saw value in Future Concepts' software and technologies at the core of the control center.
  
  
• "It can be used in tracking your assets in any sort of emergency," Winters said.Falls said the control center was an expensive tool designed in large part for surveillance of large crowds in metropolitan areas. He said less costly tools are available for smaller departments such as Jackson County.Falls said he’s dedicated to school safety and security. An active shooter training focusing on tactically moving to the source of gunfire was held in August in Butte Falls, and in September the sheriff's office hosted a school threats seminar with FBI trainers highlighting previous cases and best practices.Specifically for Shady Cove, Falls said, he prioritized making sure a trained deputy was nearby over surveillance technology."We went from having a community service officer to a sworn officer, which is another resource for that community," Falls said.
  
  
• The county commissioners this week renewed a $426,836 contract with the city of Shady Cove to provide law enforcement services through June 30, 2016.Falls said he embraces technology, citing plans to equip deputies with body cameras in 2016.Winters said he had larger ambitions for the NEXAR system and command center.
  
  
• "We were expanding on that system," Winters said.His administration partnered with the Southern Oregon University Research Center to apply for a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice in 2014. The grant made funds of up to $5 million available to schools toward safety systems, and Winters saw it as a way to expand NEXAR into more schools.
  
  
• "The Rogue Valley would've set the trend for the entire nation," Winters said.SOU criminology professor Lee Ayers worked with Winters on a grant application that requested more than $3 million to expand the system to Crater and Eagle Point high schools and fund programs coordinating agencies' efforts to help at-risk youth.
  
  
• "We wanted to target intervention at all levels," Ayers said.The grant was rejected in large part because the multifaceted approach made the programs difficult to replicate.NEXARsos is "a significant cost" and "not a feasible intervention for other school systems to adopt this, and national replication is a large intent in this call," said a grant reviewer in a 2014 document from the Department of Justice rejecting the grant.
  
  
• Ayers believes funding to expand NEXARsos could have been approved in a revised grant with a narrower scope, but the command center's future was uncertain after Falls was elected."There was a changing of the guard," Ayers said.Ayers said she understands Falls' approach, admitting the system is "expensive," but saw value in it
  
  
• ."This is something that if you don't have an interest in it, it's square peg, round hole," Ayers said.Falls said that had an additional grant been issued, or if the contract had been longer, he would have stood by the previous administration's decisions on the system.Falls said his decision not to renew Future Concepts' contract was a collaborative one. He said he sought "numerous" opinions on the system inside and outside his department, speaking with emergency managers, law enforcement executives and other sheriffs, and his own deputies, supervisors and commanders."Nobody even tried to go to bat for it," Falls said.Falls concluded Future Concepts' systems weren't industry standard.
  
  
• Falls remembered attending a presentation on NEXAR when he was deputy chief of Ashland police."There was a big push to sell this and market it," Falls said. "It's something that was introduced that didn't take off in our industry."The Bend Police Department considered the NEXAR system for Bend area schools, but the department ultimately passed, according to a July 26, 2013, article in the Bend Bulletin.Winslow said the NEXAR system is currently installed in five schools in California, and said the company just signed a $3.9 million contract with the U.S. Air Force.
  
  
• Allen Barber, human resources director for Eagle Point schools, said many of the NEXAR system's centralized security features — such as emergency buttons and door locks — are still operational in the Shady Cove school building."The system still functions at all points at the school," Barber said.Barber said expanding the NEXAR system remains one of the more costly items in a list of safety recommendations the School Board developed, even without command center access.
  
  
• According to the Weapon Safety Committee Recommendation issued May 14, 2014, projected costs to expand the system through the remainder of the district were $2.4 million."Installing the complete NEXAR System in every building would be the most secure safety system we could implement," the report states."You could say we're a little disappointed, but we certainly understand where the sheriff is coming from," Barber said.
  
  
• Barber said Falls gave the district plenty of notice he was not renewing the Future Concepts' contract.Falls said he continued the NEXAR system as implemented by Winters through the 2014-2015 school year."I was very conscious about not changing anything in the middle of the school year," Falls said.Reach reporter Nick Morgan at 541-776-4471 or nmorgan@mailtribune.com.
  

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[Wonky3]

• Wow, this was Winter's great idea of something to spend all of that money on?? Did anyone else have any input or was Winters a King who just a proclaimed this must be so?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Okay as far as it went but he (Winters) should have put cameras in everybody's bedrooms. A camera in my bedroom would be the most boring video EVER. On the other hand a camera in OregonLover's bedroom would be fun because we could watch him playing with all this guns. Damn! I didn't even know you COULD DO that will a handgun. 

[bbqboy]

I don't think Corey wears the DI hat either, which is a definite plus.

[Wonky3]

I don't think Corey wears the DI hat either, which is a definite plus.

God yes! I often had the urge to shoot Winters just for wearing that Smokey Bear hat. 

[tvguy]

I don't think Corey wears the DI hat either, which is a definite plus.

God yes! I often had the urge to shoot Winters just for wearing that Smokey Bear hat. 

How long did it take them to get you to stop saying Smokey THE bear?

[tvguy]

I don't think Corey wears the DI hat either, which is a definite plus.

[orygunluvr]

One thing sheriff falls won't do is say she ther he will enforce sb941 or not.

[Cuzz]

Vessel Operator Card (SB941)?????

[Valuesize]

Vessel Operator Card (SB941)?????

Requires private person to complete transfer of firearm by appearing with transferee before gun dealer to request criminal background check or shipping or delivering firearm to gun dealer in certain circumstances.


     https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2015R1/...view/SB941

[Wonky3]

Vessel Operator Card (SB941)?????

Requires private person to complete transfer of firearm by appearing with transferee before gun dealer to request criminal background check or shipping or delivering firearm to gun dealer in certain circumstances.


     https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2015R1/...view/SB941

Yeah...a million things on his plate but most important is SB941? 
Really? 

[tvguy]

Vessel Operator Card (SB941)?????

Requires private person to complete transfer of firearm by appearing with transferee before gun dealer to request criminal background check or shipping or delivering firearm to gun dealer in certain circumstances.


     https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2015R1/...view/SB941

Yeah...a million things on his plate but most important is SB941? 
Really? 

Where are you getting the idea that SB941 is "most important"?

[Thinker]

I think Cory made the right decision. Sounds like a very expensive video surveillance system, probably would've costed alot less if they just bought a good system and paid an electrician to install it. But then it wouldn't have a fancy name and come with a sales pitch. It sounds like it has a panic button in each classroom which turns on a light over the classroom door, and activates the video cam to start recording, and alerts the sheriff's office. Seriously, anyone could buy that hardware and install it without paying big money. Cory's idea makes more sense - have an actual officer go to the school and stop the criminal(s), instead of sitting at the sheriff's office watching the crime on video screens. Seems to me that adding complicated electronics & computers doesn't really make anyone safer. How about each school have a light switch that turns on a light outside the classroom and sounds an alarm, have a manual lock on each door, have an intercom in each room if you want to go all out, and the vid cams could be recording full time on a loop like most security cams already do. That would cost a small % of the system they installed and basically do the same thing. Also, if they're really super worried about a murderer then have at least one armed guard at the school, or have one or more of the staff trained to do that job. Heck, even if just one staff member were to point a gun at an attacker, heck it could probably even be a squirt gun, the attacker would probably roll over and commit suicide since most of them are drugged up suicidists anyway.

[tvguy]

I think Cory made the right decision. Sounds like a very expensive video surveillance system, probably would've costed alot less if they just bought a good system and paid an electrician to install it. But then it wouldn't have a fancy name and come with a sales pitch. It sounds like it has a panic button in each classroom which turns on a light over the classroom door, and activates the video cam to start recording, and alerts the sheriff's office. Seriously, anyone could buy that hardware and install it without paying big money. Cory's idea makes more sense - have an actual officer go to the school and stop the criminal(s), instead of sitting at the sheriff's office watching the crime on video screens. Seems to me that adding complicated electronics & computers doesn't really make anyone safer. How about each school have a light switch that turns on a light outside the classroom and sounds an alarm, have a manual lock on each door, have an intercom in each room if you want to go all out, and the vid cams could be recording full time on a loop like most security cams already do. That would cost a small % of the system they installed and basically do the same thing. Also, if they're really super worried about a murderer then have at least one armed guard at the school, or have one or more of the staff trained to do that job. Heck, even if just one staff member were to point a gun at an attacker, heck it could probably even be a squirt gun, the attacker would probably roll over and commit suicide since most of them are drugged up suicidists anyway.

I agree with most of that

[Wonky3]

I think Cory made the right decision. Sounds like a very expensive video surveillance system, probably would've costed alot less if they just bought a good system and paid an electrician to install it. But then it wouldn't have a fancy name and come with a sales pitch. It sounds like it has a panic button in each classroom which turns on a light over the classroom door, and activates the video cam to start recording, and alerts the sheriff's office. Seriously, anyone could buy that hardware and install it without paying big money. Cory's idea makes more sense - have an actual officer go to the school and stop the criminal(s), instead of sitting at the sheriff's office watching the crime on video screens. Seems to me that adding complicated electronics & computers doesn't really make anyone safer. How about each school have a light switch that turns on a light outside the classroom and sounds an alarm, have a manual lock on each door, have an intercom in each room if you want to go all out, and the vid cams could be recording full time on a loop like most security cams already do. That would cost a small % of the system they installed and basically do the same thing. Also, if they're really super worried about a murderer then have at least one armed guard at the school, or have one or more of the staff trained to do that job. Heck, even if just one staff member were to point a gun at an attacker, heck it could probably even be a squirt gun, the attacker would probably roll over and commit suicide since most of them are drugged up suicidists anyway.

I agree with most of that

I can't agree with ANY of it if TVg agree's with most of it. I't a matter of principle. 

[tvguy]

I think Cory made the right decision. Sounds like a very expensive video surveillance system, probably would've costed alot less if they just bought a good system and paid an electrician to install it. But then it wouldn't have a fancy name and come with a sales pitch. It sounds like it has a panic button in each classroom which turns on a light over the classroom door, and activates the video cam to start recording, and alerts the sheriff's office. Seriously, anyone could buy that hardware and install it without paying big money. Cory's idea makes more sense - have an actual officer go to the school and stop the criminal(s), instead of sitting at the sheriff's office watching the crime on video screens. Seems to me that adding complicated electronics & computers doesn't really make anyone safer. How about each school have a light switch that turns on a light outside the classroom and sounds an alarm, have a manual lock on each door, have an intercom in each room if you want to go all out, and the vid cams could be recording full time on a loop like most security cams already do. That would cost a small % of the system they installed and basically do the same thing. Also, if they're really super worried about a murderer then have at least one armed guard at the school, or have one or more of the staff trained to do that job. Heck, even if just one staff member were to point a gun at an attacker, heck it could probably even be a squirt gun, the attacker would probably roll over and commit suicide since most of them are drugged up suicidists anyway.

I agree with most of that

I can't agree with ANY of it if TVg agree's with most of it. I't a matter of principle. 

LOL, Well I didn't have time to be specific.


I don't agree that most of these shooters would be scared off with squirt gun. And the electricians who installed the system did it for free.
I( do agree that if if they're really super worried about a murderer then have at least one armed guard at the school, or have one or more of the staff trained to do that job.

But I don't agree they should be worried that much based on the REAL actual possibility that a mass shooting will occur.Which is VERY VERY slim.
I think this was an absurd amount of money and a sytem that will suck money for maintenance and upkeep forever or untill all that crap is obsolete which will probably be about 5 years .By then you could by BETTER equipment for 1/10th the cost at Costco. And this is just for ONE SCHOOL!

And most of all I don't understand how a sheriff can be qualified or allowed to blow all this money on a ridiculous project. I DO understand how Winters is qualified to WASTE money. He had a proven record of doing just that.
 

[Wonky3]

I just can't help it: Cory Falls sounds like where the guy is FROM. 

(Back to your regularly scheduled program) 

[Thinker]

LOL, Well I didn't have time to be specific.


I don't agree that most of these shooters would be scared off with squirt gun. And the electricians who installed the system did it for free.
I( do agree that if if they're really super worried about a murderer then have at least one armed guard at the school, or have one or more of the staff trained to do that job.

But I don't agree they should be worried that much based on the REAL actual possibility that a mass shooting will occur.Which is VERY VERY slim.
I think this was an absurd amount of money and a sytem that will suck money for maintenance and upkeep forever or untill all that crap is obsolete which will probably be about 5 years .By then you could by BETTER equipment for 1/10th the cost at Costco. And this is just for ONE SCHOOL!

And most of all I don't understand how a sheriff can be qualified or allowed to blow all this money on a ridiculous project. I DO understand how Winters is qualified to WASTE money. He had a proven record of doing just that.
 

Oh yeah, I forgot, the electricians did it for free. Gosh, then it would have been even cheaper, wow.

Those software/hardware companies like to get their "maintenance" fees because the fact is, they only have a product to sell, and once they sold it, they're done, so they came up with the "maintenance" concept - it sounds plausible but for the most part it is way overpriced tech support. Basically they charge a flat fee whether the client needs tech support or not, but realistically they should just charge for what the client needs. No sane individual would buy an expensive flat fee "maintenance" plan, but government organizations have all sorts of property tax money just burning a hole in their pocket, plus there's the under-the-table kickbacks.

I didn't say they were worried alot, I said "IF they were worried that much...", so we're on the same page there.

Yeah, interesting society we have where elected officials get to make huge financial decisions without asking the peoples' permission. I myself think we should move to a direct democracy.

[tvguy]

I just can't help it: Cory Falls sounds like where the guy is FROM. 

(Back to your regularly scheduled program) 

Or what happens to the Sheriff after about 14 beers.