Socorro ISD investing $500,000 in security cameras for all campuses

This week a Maryland student’s mass shooting plot at her high school was stopped after her father tipped off police.

It is part of a disturbing trend.

An ABC news investigation found in the last 17 years there have been at least 79 thwarted school massacre plots.

Just a few years ago Socorro ISD didn’t even have security cameras at schools. That has since changed.

SISD Chief Technology Officer Hector Reyna said they can’t predict when an emergency might happen but they can make sure they are ready.

“We are being proactive. We don’t know when it might happen. This is just to make sure that we are doing everything that is possible,” Reyna said.

The district is investing half a million dollars in new security cameras at schools.

“We are investing all these funds in the cameras, but we also built a great area where they can be viewed 365 days out of the year. They are monitored 24 hours a day. We have a security officer at the police department. In that area we spent over a million dollars to make sure that they are monitored every single day at every single campus,” Reyna said.

There will now be 25 security cameras at the high schools, 15 at middle schools and 15 at elementary schools.

Reyna made a presentation to board members about the additions. The district now has 1,000 security cameras with 3,000 views.

School officials say there is no immediate threat, but with stories like the one in Maryland of a teenage girl plotting to attack her own school, gathering explosive materials and detailing the plan in her diary, Reyna wants parents to know SISD working to keep their children safe.

“We’ve also placed a security officer at the high schools and also at the middle schools and at the elementarys, they alternate. But we just want to make sure we do everything possible,” Reyna said.