Why Campus Security Begins in the Parking Lot

Every day, students, staff, and visitors step onto campus long before they even reach the classroom, often beginning in the parking lot.

However, this area remains to be one of the most commonly overlooked areas when it comes to campus safety and security.

By prioritizing your parking lot’s security, campuses can create a safer environment for all, helping to deter crime, and set the tone for a culture of vigilance as soon as students, staff, and visitors step on site.

The Parking Lot: An Overlooked Entry Point of Campus Safety

Parking lots are a magnet for criminal activity and one of the most vulnerable parts of a school and university campus, but are often last on the priority list.

Despite the threat of crimes like violent attacks, drug dealing, and car theft, as well as it being a high-traffic area with constant movement throughout the day, it tends to be left out of broader campus security strategies. 

Poor lighting, limited visibility, and a lack of surveillance makes parking lots a prime location for theft, vandalism, car accidents, and other safety concerns. 

When it comes to the overall security profile of your campus, ensuring the parking lot is secured should be the first place to start.

By viewing the parking lot as an essential extension of campus security, rather than just a convenient space, educational institutions can help reduce risks, minimize crime, and improve peace of mind for everyone on site. 

Creating a safe environment for students, visitors, and staff relies on using the right mix of technology, people, and planning. 
Below, we outline why campus parking lot security is vital and key elements you should consider for yours.

Understanding the Risks to Students Before They Step Inside

Most institutions believe campus safety begins in the classroom, but it doesn’t. 

Parking lots, walkways, public spaces, and entry points are some of the most high risk locations, ranging from vehicle theft and break-ins to harassment and assault due to their assumed lack of security.

And these incidents don’t just cause physical danger, but long-lasting impact on student and staff wellbeing regarding their general safety at the institution.

Poor wellbeing and general fear of safety entering campus has knock-on effects, from low attendance and a lack of morale to protesting and fewer applications. To avoid this, it’s vital that campus leaders identify vulnerabilities, so that they can act upon them quickly. 

Generally speaking, we’d recommend a blended approach of proactive measures, such as improved lighting, clear signage, and visible surveillance. 

Doing so, helps to target the various risks presented to your institution’s campus and parking lot, deterring potential incidents and promoting peace of mind amongst students, staff, and wider community.

By taking the step to secure your parking lot, you're sending a message to everyone that safety matters from the moment they arrive.

Discover the Main Challenges to Campuses

Key Elements of Effective Parking Lot Security

Boosting campus security in your parking lot involves more than just installing cameras and popping a few signs up, it’s about creating an effective plan that combines smart technology, thought-out design, and awareness. 

This will ensure all components work together to deter crime, increase visibility, and provide safety to everyone who enters the grounds. 

Key elements like increasing lighting, improving surveillance coverage, bettering access control, and implementing clear traffic management all play a role in building a safer parking lot, and campus. We explore these in more detail:

Improve Physical Security

One of the most challenging aspects of parking lot security is visibility. If your campus is lucky enough to have a security station or patrol units, these can only monitor the entry points covered by them, and that are in their direct line of sight. 

With potentially hundreds of vehicles to monitor and several blind spots, having situational awareness of your parking lot is incredibly difficult.

Ramping up physical security can be expensive, particularly if you intend on having 24/7 guards patrolling the lots. 

Some fundamental and more cost-effective physical security improvements include:

Invest in lighting: Criminal activity often occurs under cover of darkness. Implementing security lighting across your parking lot takes away the opportunity for criminals to strike by removing those hiding spaces. 

You will need to ensure that any lighting doesn’t disrupt any surveillance cameras you have.

Secure the perimeter: Installing fences or planters/bushes around the edge of your lot will help cut down on unwelcome intrusions and make it more difficult for intruders to infiltrate your site. 

Signage: Installing signage around your lot will help both pedestrian and vehicle traffic navigate your parking lots more safely, reducing the likelihood of accidents. 

They can also be used to inform intruders of the criminal actions that can be taken against them.

Layout: If your campus parking lot doesn't have a security patrol or security station, then orientating parking spaces so that you have maximum visibility is an excellent way of improving line of sight coverage. 

A good layout also helps improve pedestrian safety by minimizing any dangerous routes and ensuring safe traffic flow.

Add emergency call stations: In emergency situations, students and staff want to feel a sense of security, and emergency call stations can be used to provide this. 

Not only are they overtly visible, but in dangerous situations, students and staff can activate them for help.

Install smart technology: Surveillance cameras, LPR technology, motion sensors, and real-time monitoring all help to enhance your physical security profile and improve response rate to developing crime.

Five Steps to Better Parking Lot Security

Deploy Surveillance Cameras

Deploying surveillance cameras is one the most effective ways of securing your campus parking lots, helping deter crime and monitor activity. 

The simple presence of such cameras can deter intruders from entering your site, and are particularly beneficial at dealing with theft and vandalism.

Surveillance cameras let individuals know that the parking lot and its surrounding areas are being monitored, whilst also capturing footage that can be used as valuable evidence in the event of an incident. 

With the right placement and technology, campuses can maintain constant oversight of their parking lot and respond quickly to any potential threats. 

Newer, advanced systems now offer an even greater security presence, such as Surveillance Trailers, which not only stand around 20ft, but provide complete portability that can be catered to your security needs.

With the LotGuard PRO is a fully autonomous mobile surveillance trailer, we provide 24/7 security to parking lots and properties without the need for mounting poles, onsite power, or internet connection.

These cameras deliver live and recorded video through our 4G LTE transmission technology, allowing for remote viewing of live and archived video at any time, regardless of your location.

This means even during out-of-hours, you can stay connected and in control of your campus. 

We also offer customizable camera profiles that allow you to enhance your campus’ parking lot security, including:

License Plate Recognition (LPR) cameras: Our LPR technology automatically scans and stores license plates to assist with crime investigation and access management.

Infrared: LotGuard can provide an industry-leading 650ft IR illumination for total coverage at night, and during harsh weather conditions.

Solar Powering: Both LotGuard PRO and MINI have solar powering options, allowing for complete power autonomy. 

Video Analytics: All our cameras feature built-in video analytics technology. This intelligent surveillance software allows you to configure a series of automatic detection rules that will alert you when motion is detected.

Learn About the Role Of Surveillance Cameras in Parking Lot Security 

Ensure Clear Parking Lot Procedures

In addition to technology and physical security measures, your people and policies must be security-focused.

If you have a security patrol, they should be performing a regular 'walkaround' of the facility, including the parking lot, to sweep for illegal items or activities. 

All vehicles using your campus parking lot should be required to have permits. These permits should be displayed in a  visible location (such as a windscreen) and only be provided to authorized vehicles.

If students need to drive a different vehicle to campus, they should obtain a day pass from the administration and security personnel should scan for parking permits as they routinely inspect the parking lot.

Procedures can also include safety guidance students and staff should take when walking throughout the parking lot to help ensure both pedestrians and drivers are acting safely.

Improve Access Control and Traffic Management

Access control is central to parking lot security. By managing who enters, exits, and moves around campus can greatly reduce unauthorized activity and crime, in turn improving the overall safety. 

Access control measures can include installing gated entry points, keycard systems, or license plate recognition to monitor vehicles entering and exiting the parking lot. 

Technology like this helps to ensure only those allowed are accessing your campus’ parking lot.

As well as the threat of external parking lot crime, car accidents are extremely common and to reduce this, campuses need to have clear traffic flow to minimize these risks. 

This means clearly marking pedestrian walkways, implementing clear signage, and painting speed limits directly onto the grounds of your lots. Essentially, the better the visibility on parking lot rules, the lower the chance of accidents on site. 

Carefully monitoring access and movement makes identification of unusual patterns or potential risks integrating into your lot, easing the responsibilities of any security teams present. As such transforming your system from a reactive to proactive approach.

Technology’s Role in Safer Campuses

Modern security risks to campuses require modern solutions to tackle them. Technology is playing a large role in campuses being able to do this and staying proactive against unauthorized access and crime.

It helps to keep security teams and boards connected with every part of your campus, and remaining responsive to potential threats. 

Whether its advanced surveillance systems and remote monitoring to LPR technology and AI-video analytics, the right tools are able to empower security teams to protect their students, staff, and visitors in a more efficient, effective manner. 

However, with technology developing, we explore the different systems available, how they work, and their key benefits:

Technology	Purpose	Key Benefits
Surveillance Cameras	They monitor activity across parking lots and campus grounds in real-time.  Units can be attached to poles and other infrastructure, and provide an overt presence.	Deter crime Provide evidence  Enhance situational awareness
Mobile Surveillance Trailers	Portable units that provide flexible, rapid deployment security coverage for large areas like parking lots.	Quick to deploy Highly visible deterrents Ideal for temporary campus events and evolving security needs
License Plate Recognition (LPR)	Cameras designed to track and record vehicle access on campus property. Identifying vehicle models and other key information.	Improves access control Gathers vehicle information Assists investigations Tracks unusual patterns
Smart Lighting Systems	Automatically controls the lighting levels based on motion or time of day.	Enhances parking lot visibility Reduces energy costs Deters illegal activity
Emergency Communication Systems	A system fitted into your parking lot that provides direct contact with campus security or emergency services if triggered.	Enables rapid response Reassures staff and students
Centralized Monitoring Software	Integrates multiple security and monitoring systems like LRP into one platform. Offers dashboards that can be accessed all via this singular service, consolidating suppliers and data risks.	Streamlines response times Saves on security costs Allows for proactive threat detection Ensures security compliance

Building a Culture of Prevention and Awareness in Your Parking Lot

Creating a truly safe environment at your campus goes beyond the physical security, it involves you building a shared commitment and culture to awareness and prevention from all. 

Campus leaders can implement several systems to protect their grounds, however, students, staff, and visitors all play their part in security. From identifying risks and reporting crime to following safety procedures and remaining safe within the parking lot, there are several steps that should be taken to protect themselves and others.

Here are a few steps campuses can take to help build that culture:

• Ensure regular safety training, campaigns, and reminders to staff, students, and security teams across the campus.
• Encourage individuals to report any suspicious behavior or crime, providing a clear process for them to do so and anonymous tip lines for reassurance.
• Promote engagement and visibility by maintaining an active security presence in all areas of your campus, including parking lots. 
• Implement signage and awareness campaigns to remind everyone of safety procedures and that individuals have a shared responsibility to keep protected on campus.
• Review and update policies on a regular basis, reflecting on any new risks, incidents, technology, federal laws, and best practices. 

Campus safety and parking lot security isn’t an option, it’s essential. Building a culture where everyone is engaged and involved helps strengthen your overall campus safety plan, and ensures continued situational awareness.

At LotGuard, our visible parking lot surveillance solutions are designed with campuses in mind, helping you reinforce your commitment to a culture of safety by providing constant reassurance to all involved.

Make Campus Safety a Priority

LotGuard: Campus Parking Lot Surveillance System

A secure campus starts with a secure parking lot. LotGuard’s parking lot surveillance solutions deliver intelligent, forward-thinking mobile surveillance specifically designed to support campus parking environments.

Our advanced systems combine high-definition video, remote connectivity, and AI analytics to provide real-time insights, proactive threat detection, and peace of mind for all. 

And we don’t just provide the product, we provide a fully-managed service, from site surveys and installation to ongoing customer care and technical support. 

Additional technology such as, our in-house, all-in-one platform, Stellifii help to consolidate security, monitoring, and reporting into one encrypted system. This helps provide clear oversight, reduces costs, and minimize resource usage, all whilst bettering your security. 

If you are concerned about the security of your campus parking lots, and want to boost safety for your students, visitors, and staff, reach out to LotGuard today.

LotGuard surveillance units detect, deter, mitigate, and report criminal activities that occur in parking lot environments.

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