Deputies responding to an emergency at Lakewood Ranch High School can now see live camera footage from the campus before they arrive.

The School District of Manatee County has activated a system connecting staff-worn alert badges with campus security cameras across 62 district sites. When a staff member triggers an alert, the system identifies nearby cameras and can provide live video to school responders and outside emergency personnel.

Manatee was the first school district in the country to pilot the integration, which connects two technologies already used by the district, Spectrum Bay News 9 reported.

Alert identifies cameras closest to emergency

The system combines CENTEGIX, which provides wearable panic-button badges, with OpenEye, a cloud-based video platform. District employees, including substitute teachers, carry CENTEGIX badges while on campus.

Pressing the badge button three times triggers an alert and identifies the employee's location. The system then identifies live video from four nearby OpenEye cameras, giving school responders information about what is happening near the alert.

Between four and seven on-site responders typically receive an alert, depending on the size of the campus, according to Spectrum Bay News 9.

During emergencies requiring outside responders, video can be shared with the Manatee County Sheriff's Office Real-Time Intelligence Center in Bradenton.

Elicia Main, the center's manager, told Tampa Bay 28 Sept. 28 that analysts can use the footage to help guide deputies responding to a school.

"They're the first eyes inside the building," Main said. "We're essentially responding immediately because the analysts are inside that school the second that alert goes off."

District spends about $831,000 annually on two systems

The district began rolling out the technology last spring, starting with high schools before expanding to middle and elementary schools, according to Tampa Bay 28.

The Manatee County School Board approved an annual CENTEGIX contract estimated at $345,000 in May. The district's estimated annual expenditure for OpenEye is about $486,000, according to Chief Technology Officer Scott Hansen. That puts the combined annual cost of the two systems at about $831,000.

The district incurred no additional cost to integrate CENTEGIX and OpenEye.

Hansen told Tampa Bay 28 that the technology demonstrated its usefulness shortly after it was launched. After a teacher at a middle school activated an alert, a school resource officer reached the scene within about 15 seconds, helping prevent a potential fight.

A large high school such as Lakewood Ranch has about 140 staff members carrying the alert badges.

Camera access limited during emergencies

District officials say privacy controls limit when outside responders can access the live feeds. Cameras are positioned in areas such as hallways, cafeterias and exterior spaces rather than classrooms.

Live access is tied to an active emergency and ends when the alert is closed. The video is not recorded within the CENTEGIX platform.

Some parents have raised privacy concerns about the technology, WFLA reported.

The technology builds on Florida's Alyssa's Law, enacted in 2020 following the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. The law requires Florida public schools to maintain mobile panic-alert systems capable of connecting with emergency responders.

The district's new integration goes a step further by connecting those alerts with live security-camera footage, maps and location information that can help responders determine what is happening before they reach the scene.