Improving Campus Security: How the University of Idaho and OpenEye Work Together

As an educational institution with over a century lived as part of the state of Idaho’s academic milieu, the University of Idaho is the top public research university in the state, serving as a higher-education school where students across the nation can study and receive both undergraduate and graduate degrees. 

The University of Idaho’s open campus is not only a space for students and student events but also serves as a key participant of the surrounding town of Moscow. This seamless access necessitates a security system that ensures community events are positive and welcoming while maintaining a secure and well managed environment for all who visit campus. 

As the university’s campus operations and event programming continued to grow, leadership identified an opportunity to modernize their video surveillance infrastructure, prioritizing reliability, scalability, and advanced investigative capabilities. 

The University of Idaho’s key goals included: 

• Reliability and Ease of Use: The university needed an intuitive system that functioned consistently, especially during large events with thousands of attendees. 
• Enhanced Search: The team required intuitive software that streamlined finding and sharing video footage with law enforcement. 
• User Management: The university needed to enable stricter control of user groups while enabling video access to the local police department. 
• Procurement Accessibility: As a state-funded institution, the university required a solution available through existing leveraged procurement agreements, able to be acquired efficiently within government purchasing frameworks. 

The University of Idaho’s Bruce Lovell, Director of Physical Security, and Steve Mills, Executive Director of the Office of Public Safety, evaluated multiple potential solutions before choosing OpenEye as their video security provider.

After visiting Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA, and seeing an OpenEye deployment firsthand, they selected OpenEye Web Services (OWS) to help them accomplish their institution’s goals, including streamlining their investigative processes through AI-powered search and integrating existing security cameras to achieve a greater return on investment. 

During the visit, seeing OpenEye’s ability to flatten fisheye camera footage into a clear, navigable view with just a couple of clicks was an immediate differentiator, a simple but powerful demonstration of how the platform translates complex data into actionable visibility. 

“With all the guests and visitors that we have, a key piece of mitigating any threats or risks is to have a functioning system, and OpenEye supports us by having a reliable system.”

Bruce Lovell, Director of Physical Security, University of Idaho

OpenEye Improves Campus Security at the University of Idaho 

The University of Idaho implemented OpenEye Web Services (OWS) to modernize its campus video security while retaining existing cameras. The university gained centralized video management, remote access, improved video search, stronger user controls, and unified surveillance across its main campus and statewide satellite locations.

The University of Idaho Uses Cloud Video Surveillance To Secure an Open Campus

The University of Idaho chose OpenEye as their institution’s campus security solution, which included: 

• OpenEye Web Services (OWS), the cloud-based video management system, for centralized management of their system and remote access to video. 
• Existing third-party cameras, retrofitted to work with the OpenEye platform to lower initial costs. 
• OpenEye servers, which enable storage of video across statewide satellite locations. 

Thanks to the open ecosystem, deploying OWS throughout the University of Idaho’s campus and its requisite satellite locations was a streamlined and fast process. The university was able to retrofit its existing cameras, drastically lowering initial costs and accelerating the installation timeline. The server installation was completed in a matter of hours over spring break to align with campus schedules. As less students would be on campus, the university hoped OpenEye could have the new recorders installed during that week, something the team was happy to accommodate. This resulted in zero growing pains for the security team, with the new system fully operational in a timely manner. 

OpenEye’s hybrid cloud architecture also empowered the university to set up a new Emergency Operation Center. Now, they can reliably display camera feeds across multiple large screens within their Emergency Operations Center, providing greater visibility across campus no matter what time of day. 

“[OpenEye is] constantly trying to stay on the cutting edge of not just video software but how they can integrate and how they can help the institutions they partner with.”

Bruce Lovell, Director of Physical Security, University of Idaho

Additionally, staff and administrators can securely view video remotely from their mobile devices, creating greater flexibility in how their team can move around campus as well as improving response times during incidents. 

Across the university’s statewide satellite locations, including the law school in Boise and a remote fish research center in Hagerman, Idaho, cameras feed back to centralized servers, creating a unified system that functions as a single location regardless of geography. This has given remote staff reliable, trusted access to video. 

OpenEye Helps the University of Idaho Improve Campus Incident Response 

With OpenEye, the University of Idaho: 

• Leverages a reliable and easy-to-use solution, helping them monitor large student and community events. 
• Improved their existing search methods, assisting them when locating needed video for investigations. 
• Provisions user controls to manage teams better and improve collaboration between the university and local law enforcement. 
• Deployed their solution through existing leveraged procurement agreements, helping them utilize a solution that works within their institution’s budget. 

The University of Idaho was able to see a positive and immediate impact from OWS on their daily operations. Thanks to improved search capabilities and remote access, the campus security team successfully resolved multiple incidents shortly after deployment, including returning stolen property and addressing community concerns. Because the platform is so intuitive, officers from the Moscow Police Department now navigate the system directly, strengthening the partnership between the university and local law enforcement.

User Groups in OWS helped strengthen the university’s cybersecurity protocols for greater protection of surveillance data. Administrators now create unique accounts with specific provisions for building attendants and security personnel, ensuring clear accountability across all user groups. By working with their IT team to create a VLAN, they restricted access so users can only view footage from designated IP addresses. Operational audits in OWS further ensure the system is used appropriately by tracking exactly who accesses the system and when. 

For Steve Mills, the bar wasn’t simply finding a good solution, or even the best one, but an ideal solution that meets the needs of today and tomorrow while being immediately actionable. OpenEye was able to provide that exact measure of solution for the University of Idaho. 

“OpenEye is the ideal solution. A good solution means it meets the needs now. The best solutions means it’s the best of what we looked at. Ideal means it meets our needs now, it meets our needs in the future, and I can reach it now. [OpenEye] remains to this day the ideal solution for us and for our future growth.”

Steve Mills, Executive Director of the Office of Public Safety, University of Idaho

Learn more about OWS and how it can benefit your institution today. 

FAQs: University of Idaho Campus Security Case Study

How does cloud video surveillance help secure a university campus?

Cloud video surveillance helps secure a university campus by providing centralized management, remote access, AI-powered alerts, and intelligent search to assist security operations and law enforcement.

Can universities use existing security cameras with OpenEye?

Universities can use existing security cameras with OpenEye due to the open platform, OpenEye Web Services (OWS). OWS integrates with third-party cameras and systems, enabling educational institutions to bring their previously installed cameras into the open cloud video platform. This eliminates any need to rip and replace existing camera systems.

How does OpenEye help universities investigate security incidents?

OpenEye helps universities investigate security incidents through intelligent search and secure export and sharing. AI-powered search features surface footage relevant to the investigation quickly, and secure export and sharing via email get the video to the appropriate parties in a streamlined manner, saving valuable time and resources.

Can campus security teams securely share video with law enforcement?

Yes, campus security teams can securely share video with law enforcement. This is accomplished through a cloud-managed video platform which allows campus security to export video clips and share it via email while adjusting permissions and expiration dates to protect use of the clip. Audits are also available for the shared clip to monitor activity.

How can universities manage video surveillance across multiple campuses or locations?

Universities can manage video surveillance across multiple campuses or locations through a cloud video surveillance platform. In a cloud-managed platform, universities can use centralized management to bring all locations into a single interface, allowing unification of disconnected sites for improved tracking of devices and users and remote access to security video.