Police getting secure Wi-Fi access at three Iowa schools

Iowa law enforcement officers will be able to park their patrol cars outside schools and access secure, high-speed Wi-Fi Internet service under a program being launched by the Iowa Department of Public Safety.

Iowa Public Safety Commissioner Roxann Ryan announced the pilot project for the service Monday at a news conference with Gov. Terry Branstad and Marshalltown High School Principal Jacque Wyant.

The service will be secure and offer bandwidth of up to 100 megabits per second for emergency and non-emergency situations. The Marshalltown, Norwalk and Martensdale school districts will be the first offering the service. Officials hope to eventually expand the initiative statewide.

The service will be available to law enforcement and other emergency responders to assist with incidents at schools, Ryan said. However, officers on routine patrol will also be able to stop at schools and use the high-speed Wi-Fi service to transmit routine law enforcement reports and to download information. In addition, officers will be able to view school surveillance cameras at school districts that have Internet-based surveillance systems before they arrive at a scene.

"We will be able to communicate far better in emergencies as a result of that good connection," Ryan said. The service will utilize the Iowa Communications Network, a broadband carrier network that already links Iowa schools, National Guard armories, government offices, public safety agencies and health care sectors.

On a day-to-day basis, the  service will eliminate driving time for law enforcement officers to travel to computer hubs for large uploads and downloads on their computers, officials said. On an emergency basis, it will provide capacity in the field in multiple key locations.

"This is an important step forward," Branstad said.

There will be no costs to school districts to assist with the pilot project, and officials they anticipate the expenses for implementing the service will be relatively low.

The system is being designed with security features so that will only be available to authorized persons. "We are confident as we can be" that the system cannot be accessed by computer hackers, Ryan said.

The project has been dubbed WISE, which is an acronym for Wi-Fi Internet for School Emergencies. Officials are working on the project with three Wi-Fi equipment vendors: Aruba, Cisco and Fortinet. The Iowa system is being designed as a simulation of the FirstNet network, which is a national program focused on creating a private LTE wireless network dedicated  to law enforcement and public safety use. However, the WISE project will not use LTE wireless networks.

Branstad said that if field tests are successful throughout the next year, the program could be expanded to other schools throughout Iowa.

Ryan remarked, “The safety of our children and educators in the state is a top priority, and the WISE School pilot project is just one more way our state is working together with local and county officials to strengthen and ensure that our schools are safe."