A small, geographically-spread school district replaces a cumbersome legacy VMS with Coram’s AI video, giving staff and local law enforcement faster answers when safety is on the line.
✅ Customer Snapshot
✅ Customer: Evergreen Union School District
✅ Industry: Education
✅ Use Case: Firearm detection, investigations, custody/security concerns
✅ Segment: 3 campuses, ~1,300 students, ~200 staff, 20-mile spread
When Evergreen USD, a rural district, learned students had been “working on incendiary devices, bombs and things like that,” the conversation around security changed. For Dan Bennett, IT Director, the priority became clear: a system that could spot threats early and get the right people alerted fast.
Before Coram (Challenge)
The district relied on a Milestone server with Axis cameras. It worked (just), but it was slow and heavy to use. Pulling video for incidents like theft or people siphoning gasoline was painful.
“It would take me 90 minutes at a minimum just to get all that footage… it was cumbersome to say the least.”
The video server itself was “getting rather long in the tooth,” and each campus had different, aging setups. Some locations had no cameras at all. Earlier, the district had also tested a startup app that pushed 911-style alerts directly to the sheriff’s department. But law enforcement “did not want the extra input,” so they went back to the drawing board.
In a rural area with spotty cell coverage and long response distances, Bennett needed something better: reliable firearm detection, simpler tools for trespassing and investigations, and a platform that could scale across all three sites.
The Switch to Coram
Bennett found Coram and connected with the team to explore options. Firearm detection quickly became the anchor use-case. After the cameras were online, a sheriff’s detective came out to test the system by brandishing weapons on campus.
He immediately saw the value, and requested to be personally notified whenever a firearm appears on camera, since he and several colleagues have children in the district. Bennett noted that a few sheriff’s department staff are now queued to receive those alerts.
Coram was deployed via a local integrator who had never installed it before. Even so, the process was smooth: they reused the existing Axis cameras and had Coram up and running in about 90 minutes, keeping Milestone live in parallel during the transition.
“It didn’t take me long at all to trust Coram enough to completely stop looking at the Milestone system.”
Life With Coram (Results)
Beyond firearm detection, Coram’s AI tools have changed how quickly the district can respond and investigate:
- Trespass detection now drives clean notifications, replacing the clunky Axis-based workflow that “did not work very well.” As Bennett puts it, “Coram is just so much easier.”
- License plate recognition is in place, with clear future use-cases already planned.
- Face search/alerts help with sensitive custody situations. If a parent is legally barred from campus, the entrance camera can notify front-office staff as they arrive so they’re prepared to respond.
The biggest surprise for Bennett was simply how solid it feels in daily use:
“The biggest surprise for me was just how well it worked… the firearm detection is really fantastic.”
Coram’s support has also stood out. Bennett often starts with the in-app AI help bot, and when he needs deeper help, an engineer joins the chat within minutes.
“My problem was solved like seconds after that.”
Why Coram?
- Practical firearm detection tested and trusted by local law enforcement.
- Faster investigations, no more 90-minute clip compilations.
- AI-powered trespass, plate, and face tools that are actually usable.
- Low-friction rollout, reusing existing Axis cameras.
- Engineer-level support, not just scripted Tier 1 replies.
Recommendation
Bennett already talks about Coram at county-wide tech meetings, while his superintendent recommends it to peers at superintendent roundtables. He sums up his experience simply: the product works, and he wants more districts to know about it.
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