When a teenage boy decided to spray graffiti on the outside of a Pendleton school the weekend of April 4, he didn’t know he was being watched.

A video surveillance system installed and maintained by the Umatilla-Morrow Education Service District at Hawthorne Alternative High School caught the entire act on camera and clearly identified the boy to police. The 14-year-old Sunridge Middle School student is also suspected of “tagging” gang-related symbols near Pendleton City Hall, said Officer Howard Bowen, the Pendleton Police Department’s community service officer. The boy has been charged with second-degree criminal mischief, and could also face a charge of unlawful application of graffiti.

This particular incident wasn’t the first time a UMESD-maintained security camera has helped police and school officials identify someone. A camera at Pendleton High School helped nab the student suspected of calling in a bomb threat to the high school on Jan. 5, said Police Chief Stuart Roberts.

“The cameras are awesome,” said Bowen. “They can capture things on real-time, and allow us to look around and zoom in on things very easily.”

The video surveillance system uses several different kinds of cameras, said Karen Smelser, network analyst in the UMESD’s InterMountain Technology department. One of these cameras is called a Pan, Tilt, Zoom and can allow a system administrator to zoom in on an object, such as a face or license plate. It also allows a system administrator to schedule a panning movement; for example, the cameras can be scheduled to pan a parking lot during the nighttime hours every 5 minutes.

The cameras record when they detect motion, such as a car moving or person walking or even a movement as slight as water running down the roofline to form an icicle.

Another type of camera is stationary and records a single area, such as a building entrance. These cameras also come in a “fish-eye” view, in which a single camera can view the majority of a room from a single angle, rather than having to place several cameras in different areas of a room.

All cameras can be accessed by a system administrator – such as a school principal or police officer – at any time using an Internet connection. System administrators may move certain cameras to pan an area, as well as zoom in on subjects, via the Internet. UMESD alternative education curriculum Director Suzy Mayes had no problem quickly downloading the footage of the suspected tagger and handing it off to police soon after discovering the graffiti at Hawthorne.

Besides Pendleton, schools in Morrow County and Umatilla, and Pleasantview Alternative High School in Milton-Freewater also placed the UMESD’s video surveillance systems.

Smelser said school administrators have found success with the system, not only for crime purposes, but for behavior at school. The cameras can catch bullying or misbehavior in the classroom or on the playground, and also can refute or confirm claims made by students.