Insights
Setting Custom Rules with VOLT
Every campus has unique security needs shaped by its layout, community, and daily operations. While traditional security measures often take a one-size-fits-all approach, VOLT's customizable rules engine allows you to create a tailored security strategy that proactively addresses your specific challenges.
By leveraging your existing camera infrastructure with intelligent rules, you can transform from reactive to proactive security management.
The Foundation: Understanding Rule Types
The VOLT system offers two fundamental types of rules that work together to create comprehensive security coverage. Facility-wide rules serve as your primary security foundation, providing essential monitoring across your entire campus.
These typically include weapon detection, person down alerts, and fight detection - critical safety measures that need to operate continuously throughout your entire facility.
These rules can account for the unique characteristics and requirements of different spaces within your facility. For example, a parking area might need different monitoring parameters than a building entrance or a restricted storage area.
Building Your Strategic Framework
When implementing your rule strategy, timing becomes a crucial consideration. Many facilities find that different times of day require different security approaches. A building entrance might need strict occupancy monitoring during business hours but ensuring no people are detected after hours.
Location-based customization forms another vital component of your strategy. Each area of your facility likely has distinct security needs and challenges.
High-value areas could require object left behind detection combined with strict access monitoring.
Alert escalation protocols complete your framework by ensuring the right people receive notifications at the right time.
These escalation chains can change based on the time of day or the specific type of incident detected.
Example Rules and Real-World Applications from VOLT Customers
Medical emergency response provides another compelling example. A school implemented person down detection across their campus, leading to a dramatic improvement in response times.
In one instance, the system detected a student having a medical emergency in an empty hallway, enabling a nurse to respond within 15 seconds. Without this detection capability, the student might have gone unnoticed for a dangerous amount of time.
Review this list of examples from our real-world customers.
Weapons Detection
One school administrator reported receiving weapon alerts before individuals even reached building entrances, providing crucial response time. Organizations can customize their notification protocols, routing alerts to the right people in their own security teams.
Medical Emergency Detection
At the University of Illinois Chicago, the system identified a person who had fallen in an elevator lobby while others walked past. The technology recognizes individuals on the ground or in distress, particularly valuable in areas with limited staff presence or visibility. This capability has transformed emergency response times, especially during off-hours or in less-trafficked areas.
Fight Detection
The system successfully distinguishes between casual horseplay and actual fights, while also detecting pre-planned confrontations like "slap boxing" matches. This proactive detection has proven particularly valuable in school environments where early intervention is crucial.
After-hours monitoring can use different time thresholds for closed hours.
Someone where they shouldn't be
Access control monitoring combines multiple rule types to create comprehensive security coverage. Monitoring to ensure no people are present during closed hours helps identify any unauthorized presence, while movement tracking in restricted areas provides detailed awareness of activity patterns.
; Vehicle-Related Rules
Moving vehicle detection during restricted hours flags someone where they shouldn't be.
Time-Based Rule Implementation
Time-based rules allow facilities to change their security posture throughout the day. Some facilities implement rules during overnight hours to ensure nobody is present while maintaining different thresholds during business hours. This flexible approach allows organizations to maintain appropriate security levels while accommodating normal facility usage patterns.
Read the Case Study: How a Public High School Transformed School Security
Their security team implemented a sophisticated combination of rules that transformed their response to these incidents.
Location-Specific Applications
Different areas of a facility often require unique security approaches. This zone-based approach allows organizations to create security protocols tailored to each area's specific risks and operational requirements.
Organizations typically find the most success by starting with broader facility-wide rules before adding zone-specific customizations. Regular review and adjustment of thresholds helps optimize system performance, while customized escalation protocols ensure appropriate response to different types of alerts. The key is finding the right balance between robust security coverage and operational efficiency, changing rules as needs change and new patterns emerge.
Optimizing Your Rule Configuration
Rule optimization is an ongoing process that requires regular assessment and refinement. Many organizations find success by starting with broader facility-wide rules and then adjusting based on actual usage patterns and alert volumes.
Regular review sessions with the VOLT team help ensure your rules continue to meet your evolving security requirements. As your facility's usage patterns change or new security challenges emerge, your rule set can change too.
The Partnership Approach
VOLT believes in partnering with our customers throughout their security journey. Regular check-ins help optimize performance and ensure your rule configuration continues to evolve with your requirements.
This collaborative approach extends beyond just technical setup. We share insights from successful implementations across various facilities, helping you benefit from proven security strategies while maintaining your unique security profile. Our goal is to help you create a security framework that's robust and easy to change as your needs change.
Remember, transforming your security approach from reactive to proactive doesn't happen overnight. It's an iterative process that requires attention to your facility's specific challenges and careful consideration of how different rules can work together to create comprehensive protection. With the right strategy and ongoing optimization, your custom rules can significantly enhance your security operations while reducing the burden on your team.
Contact your VOLT representative to schedule a rule optimization session and take the next step in enhancing your security strategy.
Where VOLT fits
Most of what a school or campus needs help with is everyday: a student who falls, a fight that starts in a hallway, a visitor in the wrong place. Weapons are rare, serious moments inside that picture.
VOLT is built to notice moments: a fall, a fight, someone where they shouldn't be.
VOLT tracks a person by visual appearance across the camera footprint and shows that track on a 3D floor plan, so first responders reach where the situation is unfolding now, not where it started.
VOLT detects handguns, long guns, and knives that are visible to the camera.
It doesn't see through clothing or into bags.
VOLT is built to run on the cameras you already have. Some older analog cameras may need an upgrade.
VOLT is built to run on the cameras you already have.
By default, a VOLT reviewer checks it before your team is notified.
VOLT notices moments as they happen, and by default a VOLT reviewer checks each one before your team is notified.
Related reading
