Maryville — The Blount County E-911 center is taking steps to gain access to local school camera systems to keep students and teachers safe.
"Schools have had cameras in them for a while, now all schools in the city of Maryville and Alcoa have cameras in place and we are able to view them," said James Long, the director at the Blount County E-911 center.
Long has an extensive background in law enforcement.
"I worked at the Sheriff's Office for 27 years," Long said.
Long is now focusing on staying prepared for any emergency event in schools in the county.
His team is working on updating cameras and monitoring systems so dispatch can tap into everything that happens inside the schools.
"The goal is to give the first responder information that will hopefully help them know what they are dealing with and hopefully save lives," he said.
Mass killings at schools is one of the driving concerns driving security upgrades.
"We're seeing it happen more and more across the country and we have to take our time to ensure the safety of our kids," Long said.
He said it adds pressure on dispatch workers, but they're ready for it.
"We want to make sure we've done everything we can to prevent the loss of life or injury to our kids in a place where they should feel safe and protected," Long said.
Along with the cameras, the 911 center is working to get pictures of every classroom in every school so they're familiar with the layout should they need to direct people in the case of an emergency.
The goal is have access to all school system cameras by the end of this year.
The E-911 director said this will be a big team effort but will benefit everyone when it's all said and done.