Verint Systems announced its association with the safe city project initiated by the Surat City Police Department (SCPD) and Surat Traffic Education Trust (STET) to help enhance the safety and security of Surat City inhabitants. With the successful project launch on 18 January 2013, the diamond city of Surat in Gujarat will benefit from a state-of-the-art 24x7 video surveillance and security command center.
"There is a need to enhance the safety and security of Surat City based on its large population and concentration of key industries, such as diamond, textile, engineering, and oil and gas," says Rakesh Asthana, Police Commissioner, Surat City. "The Surat safe city project is an investment designed to help ensure the safety of our people and bring a greater awareness of security amongst our citizens. This project of the government of Gujarat has been executed successfully as a public partnership by the Surat Police Commissionerate," along with STET, Innovative Telecom and Verint as a technology partner.
The initial phase of the Surat safe city project consisted of 100+ CCTV cameras covering all major traffic junctions along with critical entry and exit points in the city. In subsequent phases, the SCPD and STET plan to extend the coverage in the city, which has a population of approximately forty five lakh (or about 4,500,000), by integrating the project with the proposed state government surveillance and command center network in Gandhinagar. The city administration plans to increase the number of surveillance locations to 5,000 by the end of the project implementation.
At the heart of the project is the deployment of a state-of-the-art command, control and communications center (C3) with a 280 square foot “video wall” that can centrally monitor, aggregate and analyze multiple surveillance feeds in police headquarters to support the proactive physical security management of the city. The center includes a city mapping capability that provides reports on physical security and fire alarm and water levels, along with evacuation and disaster recovery plans.
"We are honored to be part of the Surat safe city project, which is designed to provide a more secure environment for citizens," says Manish Shah, VP for South East Asia at Verint. "Verint solutions help public safety organizations meet a range of modern challenges, from evolving communications media to homeland security concerns, and in doing so, help improve performance and protect people, property and assets."
The task of implementing a state-of-the-art C3 was successfully executed by STET in partnership with the SCPD. To support its focus, it invested in Verint's Nextiva VMS and Nextiva PPSIM solutions in September 2012, taking the technology live last month as part of the overall Surat safe city project rollout. According to the organizations, these capabilities serve as critical components of the city's overall command center plan that's focused on proactive approaches to help identify, analyze and take action on security and criminal threats.
"Surat City is a commercial hub for India's diamond and textile markets. As such, the city is a high-security risk area for potential theft and crime. To help proactively identify and neutralize such threats, the city administration and police department initiated the safe city project to increase awareness and security amongst the people and help ensure 24x7 surveillance," adds Mihir Chahwala, Director of Innovative Telecom & Software, a security solutions company based in Western India, and a Verint partner.