SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - Safety is on everyone's minds since the Sandy Hook tragedy, and San Diego police want instant access in the event of an emergency.
This means increased safety for San Diego's students through a high-tech program that's been around since 2010, called Operation Secure San Diego.
"Operation Secure San Diego is our ability to take live streaming video and stream it directly into a responding police officer's car," explained Asst. Chief Boyd Long with the San Diego Police Department.
That responding officer then has immediate, real-time access to surveillance camera video on his patrol car's laptop, as he heads toward a possible crime scene at a local school.
Through this program, San Diego police already have access to the live video feeds of about 100 surveillance cameras set up at hotels and other businesses throughout the city.
Following the Newtown, Connecticut massacre, the police are now working with the San Diego Unified School District to gain access to all 1200 surveillance cameras already set up in nearly 70 of the district's schools.
A pilot program is already in place at Hoover High and Monroe-Clark Middle Schools in Mid-city - a program police are hoping to expand in the near future.
One of the biggest benefits of this program, according to police, is the infrastructure for this program. The surveillance cameras at the schools and the laptops in police cruisers, meaning there would be no additional cost to the city or to taxpayers.
Before Operation Secure San Diego could be implemented throughout San Diego Unified School District schools, the school board first must vote to approve it.