By Lori EhdeAfter a spring trial period of a single security camera, Luverne School District is installing a complete camera security system in its buildings and grounds."The No. 1 issue is security," said Superintendent Gary Fisher. "The No. 2 issue is to be a deterrent for students. … We don’t have many altercations, but if we do, this will help. Otherwise, it’s one kid’s word over another."Fisher said the cameras will also be a deterrent to theft and vandalism on school property, something that had become a problem midway through the last school year.Fisher said the trial camera installed near the superintendent’s office this spring helped to catch a student who was leaving black tire marks in the parking lot."The cameras put a stop to that," Fisher said.The district already uses cameras in its school buses to help with student discipline issues, but the new camera security system in the buildings and grounds serves a broader purpose, Fisher said."We’ll be able to monitor who’s coming and going," he said. "You hear about kids being taken by strangers, and this will be a precaution against situations like that."The camera system, purchased from Dakota Securities, Sioux Falls, cost $34,000. It was budgeted and paid for out of "Safe School Money," allocated by the state to be used for school-police liaisons or security improvement."The state allocates money for that line item," Fisher said.It includes recorders in the elementary building and in the middle school-high school building which are triggered to record motion by detectors on the cameras.There are seven cameras recording activity in and around entrances on the outside of the buildings, and there are four cameras inside the buildings.Fisher said security cameras are a trend in many area districts, with systems already in place in Pipestone and in Hills-Beaver Creek.