The city of Hawthorne in California needed a better way to decrease crime at its public parks. Eucalyptus Park was a hub for narcotics activity, truancy and vandalism, and led the city in calls for police service. To combat crime in the park, an officer was stationed in the park from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day, which pulled valuable officers from patrolling the streets. Thus, a video surveillance solution for the park was realized, which would allow authorized users to view and control the cameras remotely from any location in the city.
Hawthorne Police Fight Crime Elements
The city of Hawthorne in California needed a better way to decrease crime at its public parks. Eucalyptus Park was a hub for narcotics activity, truancy and vandalism, and led the city in calls for police service. To combat crime in the park, an officer was stationed in the park from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day, which pulled valuable officers from patrolling the streets. Thus, a video surveillance solution for the park was realized, which would allow authorized users to view and control the cameras remotely from any location in the city.
The Solution
Iron Sky was chosen by the city to design and deploy a video surveillance solution for Eucalyptus Park, with an emphasis on ease of use and remote viewing — such as from the inside of a patrol car. The solution included PTZ network and megapixel cameras to provide constant monitoring of key areas. To provide connectivity, wireless mesh radios were utilized within the park, and point-to-point radios were used to transmit images to a communications tower adjacent to the Hawthorne police department building one mile away. The camera images are recorded using H.264 compression and archived for one year onto a 30-terabyte server located at the police department.
The Result
The cameras have given the police department an effective tool to fight crime. “Crime is basically nonexistent there,” said Lt. Jim Royer. Calls for service in Eucalyptus Park decreased dramatically immediately following the installation of the cameras. No officers have been assigned to the park at all, resulting in 11 man-hours per day of officer time put back on the streets. The types of criminal activity occurring in the park have also changed dramatically. Instead of calls for narcotics and alcohol activities, most of the incidents now involve nuisance, loitering and violating park rules.
If police receive a call about a problem at the park, officers can use the cameras to take a look before sending a car. “The wireless mesh was a much more cost-effective solution for transmitting the camera images than installing fiber-optic cabling and eliminates the monthly fees associated with leasing T1 lines,” Royer said. “Iron Sky has given us a unique tool that delivers results to help us stay at the forefront of modern law enforcement.”
Turkish Police Deploy Citywide Video Surveillance
The Turkish National Police in Kutahya required a reliable, secure, low-cost and high-bandwidth network for their 24-hour citywide video surveillance project. The project entailed the deployment of multiple video surveillance cameras throughout the city of Kutahya. Deploying the high-capacity surveillance network posed a challenge due to interference of urban obstacles, which necessitated the use of many non-line-of-sight (NLOS) network links.
The Solution
Redline was chosen for its ability to provide secure and reliable high-speed connections in NLOS conditions. Base stations were deployed throughout the city along with outdoor subscriber units, and additional products were used to backhaul the connection to the police headquarters.
Three base stations were installed to achieve citywide wireless coverage to connect the police department's video surveillance system. The base stations were installed at Emniyet Genel Müdürlügü, local and Germiyan sites. Coverage of 17 by 7 kilometers has been created and achieved through the installation of base stations in Kutahya. Within this area, 35 surveillance cameras, both PTZ and fixed, and three license plate recognition systems on three separate highways with 12 fixed cameras have been deployed.
The Result
The Turkish police can now depend on a high-speed network for improved video surveillance and enhanced public protection. Redline's WiMAX video surveillance system was first successfully implemented in the city of Simav within Kutahya province in 2007 and has been in production since then. After the deployment in Kutahya, the solution has been replicated in two other Turkish cities, Tavsanli and Gediz. Based on the success of this WiMAX network, the police force in Ankara, Turkey's capital, are now examining the feasibility of a similar deployment.
City of Albuquerque Standardizes IP Video
Presently, approximately 300 cameras monitor facilities throughout the city, ranging from the downtown city complex, to solid waste facilities, t o a groundbreaking Family Advocacy Center. However, years before any surveillance system could be rolled out to today's multiple locations, there first had to be standards.
Mark Shepherd, Director of Security for the City of Albuquerque, explained the challenges at project inception. “We have 6,000 employees, 18 different departments, 800 city-owned buildings spread across 400 square miles, and every department has its own budget and priorities. A key success factor for us was to set mandatory standards for all of our departments. Now, if you're going to place a camera or an access reader on the system, it has to go through our technical review committee and conform to the established standards for all software and hardware.”
For all the different locations and departments involved, the system provides partitioned video access so that each department can monitor its own video, while all video feeds are also monitored and recorded in a number of other locations around the city for backup and support. Typically, video is managed by each department and is also sent to remote monitoring locations. The eventual goal is to develop a true commandand- control capability that centralizes all resources and all video, access and alarm data into a single location that monitors public streets, buildings and open spaces.
Along with the hundreds of fixed cameras, the City of Albuquerque has established a mobile command unit so that police can monitor activity in the entertainment district, where there can be thousands of people out and about on the streets patronizing the many bars and restaurants.