Newport Beach police could soon watch live video from roughly 900 school cameras during emergencies under a proposal the Newport-Mesa Unified School District board heard Tuesday, Aug. 18, with the city picking up the full tab.
Director of Risk Management Jonathan Wilby presented the Fusus platform as an add-on to the district's existing Genetec video system and Centegix panic-button network. Fusus, already used by the Newport Beach Police Department, would let dispatchers and responding officers pull up a single map view of nearby camera feeds during an active incident.
Wilby framed the district's layered security approach around three goals: slowing down a threat, speeding up staff protective actions and accelerating law enforcement response, according to Stu News Newport.
The price tag: an estimated $20,000 per year for the roughly 800 to 900 cameras at schools within NBPD's jurisdiction, or $48,000 annually for all 2,100 district cameras. Those figures cover equipment and licensing only. NBPD Lt. Brad Miller told trustees the city confirmed it would pay all installation and subscription costs.
Board clerk Lisa Pearson, a Corona del Mar resident of more than 35 years, voiced strong support. "It's going to save lives … It's something that we can't not do," she said.
Not everyone was ready to move forward without guardrails. Trustee Ashley Anderson called for additional legal and privacy review before any implementation, raising concerns about video feeds being improperly accessed. Trustee Krista Weigand stressed that the district must retain ownership of the data.
The district has already hired Tustin-based education law firm Parker and Covert LLP to review governance and privacy implications. Wilby noted that California Education Code permits camera access during an active emergency and that Fusus confirmed the district would control its own viewing permissions and audit logs.
Fusus would not replace Genetec, which manages live and recorded footage across all NMUSD campuses. Instead it would run in parallel, pulling in traffic cameras, drone footage, officer body cameras and enrolled private cameras to give police a fuller picture during a crisis.
No vote was taken.
The presentation was informational only, and adding Costa Mesa police to the network later would carry additional costs beyond the $48,000 figure. The district's legal review through Parker and Covert LLP will need to conclude before any action item returns to the board.
