Taos County sheriff links to some schools’ security cameras
System can also tap into hospital, airport systems in case of emergencies
TAOS — The Taos County Sheriff ’s Office has been partnering with local schools over the past eight months to establish a proactive surveillance infrastructure with the goal of improving student safety in case of an active shooter or another emergency situation.
Instead of creating its own security network, the agency has been granted access to surveillance systems at schools as well as Holy Cross Medical Center and the Taos Regional Airport. It observes these systems from a modified patrol vehicle fitted with multiple monitors that connect remotely.
A large antenna on top of the SUV provides it with internet connectivity anywhere in the county.
The vehicle was previously part of the agency’s patrol fleet but now has a new function: to be the eyes and ears for deputies on the ground in an emergency.
By accessing cameras at these locations, a deputy can inform officers where the threat might be, which can saves crucial time, Taos County Sheriff Steve Miera said.
“If you think about the immense size and intricacies of a school — the many different halls, the different buildings — locating that threat beyond using audio-visual queues such as gunfire, we mitigate that by being able to access these cameras,” he said.
The vehicle will be manned by Special Deputy Mike Holley, who spearheaded the initiative.
Over the past eight months, Holley traveled across the county to pitch the idea to potential stakeholders. He said he had to familiarize himself with the many buildings at the schools, the airport and hospital so he could better assist deputies as they navigate these structures in the event of an active shooter.
“When there’s an active shooter at a school, hospital or airport, for every few seconds that an officer is not there stopping the threat, somebody’s dying,” Holley said. “We’re actually able to tell our officers before they even get there where the threat’s at. We shave minutes, which
is so huge in an active shooter situation.”
Holley said he received a largely positive response from community leaders who worked with him on the security project.
So far, the sheriff ’s office has partnered with the Peñasco Independent School District, the Questa Independent School District and every charter school in Taos County. Taos Municipal Schools and the University of New Mexico-Taos have not agreed to participate.
Miera said the agency faced resistance from Taos Municipal Schools over the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, a federal law that protects students’ privacy and documentation.
“It is absolutely FERPA- and HIPAA-compliant because this system does not record, it doesn’t release any personal information of the individuals it was designed to protect,” Miera said. “This mitigates response times; this protects our students and protects our staff. It’s crucial because in the end, time equals lives. The less time you take to respond and locate that threat, the more lives you save.”
Rich Greywolf, principal at Taos Integrated School for the Arts, said: “I look at it as if we were to have an emergency where there was a shooter presence or we have an individual who shouldn’t be here at school, it’s a way for officers both to keep safe as well as help them localize where the threat is. I feel as if that is the most effective way of keeping our students safe.”
Holley believes the Taos County Sheriff ’s Office is the first law enforcement agency in the state to create such a surveillance partnership. The office will be sharing its progress with a law enforcement agency in Oklahoma that has expressed interest, he said.
“It was one of [Miera’s] campaign promises to make the schools safer,” Holley said. “There is no other way to make it this safe.”