911 ResponsAbility

Surveillance Camera Integration in 911 Centers

The City of Chicago recently took a step forward in improving public safety by integrating its video surveillance camera network into its computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system. This gives dispatchers the ability to take control of nearby cameras and view live footage of the situation at hand. Yet this approach still leaves security teams in reactive mode, only being able to respond once an incident has occurred and they have been notified of it through traditional channels, like a call to 9-1-1. This also presumes that a third-party has witnessed the incident and cares to report it. Have you ever heard of someone who was trespassing calling 9-1-1 on themselves?

Sophisticated video analytics would empower the city to be proactive — speeding response times and potentially saving lives. Video analytics systems are configured to automatically alert security dispatchers of emerging situations such as a person trespassing or loitering in an unauthorized area or a vehicle moving in an unusual direction. It can even automatically notify emergency personnel of an auto accident, enabling first responders to arrive on the scene much faster instead of having to rely on others to report an accident. In this scenario, video clips are automatically forwarded to dispatchers so they can see what really occurred and set a priority level accordingly.

With true integration such as occurs with InterAct Public Safety’s computer aided dispatch system, InterActCAD, and the InterAct TrueSentry digital video surveillance system, dispatchers can not only see live footage but rewind to quickly ascertain what occurred just before an incident was reported. This helps with the ability to respond appropriately to an incident, and also eliminates much of the finger-pointing that often occurs in the wake of an incident.

Video footage can automatically attached to a CAD record, and transmitted to emergency teams responding to the scene so they’re better equipped to understand the situation at hand. The video clip can follow through to the records management system, giving investigators immediate access to important visual records instead of having to cull through hours of footage to see what occurred.

This true integration would allow any city to conduct proactive policing – resulting in improved safety across the region. Check out this video that demonstrates the power of our integrated solution.

Problems with Planning and Preparing for Emergencies in Schools

Seems like there is no end to the problem of school safety. I just came across this article on CNN.com.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/05/17/school.safety.ap/index.html

    ...according to an analysis by the congressional Government Accountability     Office. For example:

• About half of school districts don’t have plans for continuing to educate students in the event of a lengthy school closure.
• School districts generally are not working with first responders or other community officials on how to implement emergency plans.
• Twenty-eight percent of school districts with emergency plans do not have specific provisions for evacuating student with disabilities in an emergency.
• Two-thirds of districts reported a lack of expertise and equipment, such as two-way radios and adequate locks for school building, as impediments to emergency planning.

InterAct pushes for schools to integrate with their local police and other emergency officials. This is the best way to ensure the best response possible if their is a breach in a school’s security plan. We continue to see a need for schools to be able to integrate technologies together to keep their schools safe.

At InterAct we have come up with solutions to link intelligent video surveillance (TrueSentry) to a the systems at the local 9-1-1 center, allowing dispatchers and first responders to be aware of what situation is going on before they even arrive on scene. In a previous blog, we talk about how to use emergency notification (MissionMode) to get alerts out to other officials who need to know about a situation that is going on.

Of course there is will be no end to see articles on how our schools aren’t as safe as we hope, but InterAct makes sure the solutions are out there for them to do it. For more on InterAct schools safety, visit http://www.interact911.com/industry__solutions/private__sector/education/index.htm

Learning from History

Our resident expert on school safety and security, Don Fraser, just sent me the following link to a New York Times article from May 19, 1927.

MANIAC BLOWS UP SCHOOL, KILLS 42, MOSTLY CHILDREN; HAD PROTESTED HIGH TAXES; 33 PUPILS AMONG VICTIMS

It brings to mind the quote by philosopher and poet, George Santayana, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Before Columbine, the thought of a tragedy of this magnitude seemed to be impossible. We collectively forgot about this unthinkable, horrific act in Michigan, and so here we are 80 years later, with 32 more lives cut short.

We can not - must not - forget. The real tragedy will be if in another 80 years, we still have not done anything to improve the safety and security of our schools to protect our children. The technology exists to help detect and prevent incidents, but help is needed on the federal level to fund the initiatives.

Pushing the Limits of School Security

Amazing that school security has come to something as extreme as this…

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061010/ap_on_go_pr_wh/school_safety

But I wonder how far we are from this set up becoming the standard. While this school is really pushing school security to the limit, most do not have the kind of budget necessary to install and maintain this level of systems.

More economical safety precautions that many schools are already taking include:

• Locking doors during school hours.
• Requiring all visitors to check in and wear a badge while on campus.
• Hiring security guards or having teachers and faculty make rounds on campus grounds throughout the day to notice loiterers more quickly.

But many of these actions can be enhanced and improved upon with the advancements made in digital video surveillance technology, such as InterAct TrueSentry.

• Cameras can monitor and record all activity in and out of doors and tied to access control devices. If any door is opened when it shouldn’t be, the camera would automatically alert administrative staff with an audible alarm, drawing their attention to the camera so they can react immediately.
• A perimeter can be defined around the school in the system and cameras monitoring the grounds can detect when someone is loitering within the perimeter during school hours. This technology might have detected the perpetrator in Bailey, CO for instance since he was hanging around outside the school for 20 minutes before entering.
• TrueSentry is integrated with the InterAct MissionMode alert notification and crisis management system. With this capability, once a threat is detected, administrators and security personnel can receive an alert on their cell phone, pager, SMS or e-mail and view the video of the incident immediately to speed response.

Response personnel can take control of the live camera feed and get a view of the current situation so that can plan an effective resolution. If officials in Bailey, CO had been able to see inside they may have chosen to enter the building sooner without blasting through a wall.

And InterAct will soon be announcing a School Surveillance Starter Kit. This will include 4 surveillance cameras and a TrueSentry NVR for $16,400. The system will also be available for a 3-year lease at $592.90 per month or 3 annual payments of $7,114.80.

MSNBC Postponed

Our spot on MSNBC has been postponed and will hopefully air tomorrow.

Digital Video Surveillance for Increased School Security

American School & University Magazine’s recent School Security supplement discussed some important points that schools should consider as they put together their Security Plans. Not surprisingly, some of their recommendations revolved around the use of video surveillance systems. From the article:

• Is there a video-surveillance system monitoring, recording and storing video of vulnerable areas?
• Can the video-surveillance system be monitored from a remote location?
• Can the real-time security system data (video, audio, access control) be shared with local law enforcement?
• Are all security systems (intrusion, access control, emergency voice, video surveillance) integrated into one network?

InterAct TrueSentry is a digital video surveillance system that can help a school meet all of these recommendations and more right “off the shelf”. In fact, on the first point ASU Mag points out that “not many schools have the “ability to monitor cameras continuously”, but that a “regular check of live and recorded video” should be performed. But with TrueSentry, you get an “intelligent” threat monitoring system that actually serves as another set of eyes with integrated motion detection and alert notification. The camera can recognize when specific rules are being violated and draw staff’s attention to the field of view. The incident can be easily escalated by sending an alert to administrative and security personnel via phone, email or SMS.

The system can even be quickly escalated to local law enforcement since TrueSentry can be integrated with computer aided dispatch systems at used in 9-1-1 call centers. Video of the incident can be sent directly to emergency dispatchers and law enforcement personnel to reduce response time. Response teams can also take control of the live cameras for a current view of the situation to more easily plan their entry into the building without placing any additional lives at stake.

The Rural Law Enforcement Technology Center is a program of the National Institute of Justice, the research and development agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. One of their initiatives is to research technology that schools can use to increase the safety and security of students nationwide. They found TrueSentry met all of the requirements they had right out of the box and chose to install it at Hazard High School in Kentucky as part of a pilot program poised to become the national model for school security. You can read more about it here.

To learn more about other InterAct applications that can help increase the safety and security of schools, please visit http://www.interact911.com/school_safety

PSAP Surveillance and Security

As the lifeline to hundreds and thousands of people, it is critical that emergency communications towers and 9-1-1 centers stay up and running. Protecting the flow of communication and the dedicated teams of telecommunicators within should rely on nothing less than the most sophisticated technology available.

Surveillance cameras are no stranger to the PSAP. Most of them have some kind of surveillance camera installed, at least at the front door so that personnel can see who is there before buzzing them in. But often they are still using hard-wired CCTV cameras. Recording goes onto VHS tapes if anything is being recorded at all. If a tape runs out in the middle of an incident, critical information won’t even be archived. And video that does get recorded is often grainy and in Black and White, making it hard to make out any details. Likewise, navigating through tapes for relevant video surrounding an incident is time-consuming.

The InterAct TrueSentry digital video surveillance system  has been developed with public safety applications in mind. Some of the ways InterAct TrueSentry can help increase security in the PSAP include:

Integration with Access Control Devices and Alarms: Cameras mounted at the entrance to the PSAP can be integrated into access control devices. Every time the buzzer is rung, a TrueSentry camera can record and archive only that data. So, if down the line, there is a question about who came to the front door and when, instead of going through hours of tape, you can just have a running log of the people coming to the door.

Video Analytics: Pre-defined behaviors can be set and identified, and when a rule is violated TrueSentry can alert staff with audible and visual notifications. For instance, cameras can be installed on remote communication towers and a perimeter can be defined around the tower.  to alert dispatchers whenever a person comes within a defined radious.

CAD Integration: TrueSentry can be integrated into any computer aided dispatch system – and already is integrated into InterAct CAD. Some PSAPs are tied directly to courtrooms. if things begin to get a little out of hand, a judge or bailiff can push a button to alert dispatch and a CAD incident is created. TrueSenty cameras can be linked to the alarm sending video directly to the dispatcher who could then see exactly what was going on and attach the video to the CAD incident, and even send it to responders.

Knowing that budget is always an issue, InterAct TrueSentry has put together a PSAP Surveillance Starter Kit that includes 4 cameras and an NVR. Flexible pricing plans have been developed to appeal to agencies of every size.

The $16,400 package can also be leased for $592.90 for 36 months or 3 annual payments of $7114.80. To learn more go to:

http://www.interact911.com/psap_surveillance

Wireless Networks and Video Surveillance in Public Safety

The Spectrum Coalition for Public Safety put out this video that talks about the need for broadband wireless networks due to the critical role they can play in law enforcement called "Broadband in Action". For accessing critical information such as reports, suspect profiles and real-time video images, data transfer speed is a must. What this video also does a terrific job demonstrating is how digital video surveillance can play a critical role in public safety. 

InterAct is partnered with Radio IP and Trificient to help agencies, municipatilies, counties, and academic campuses establish private wireless networks to ensure mobile workers are connected to the command center.

Trificient is a Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP) providing customized Mobile High Speed Networks to communities who have little or no choice in getting such services, especially in areas where other providers may not go for economic reasons.

No matter what type of wireless data network is being used (i.e. public cellular network, a private RF network, or a combination of wireless networks), Radio IP MTG provides continuous wireless connectivity, the security of a mobile VPN and the ability to connect to other networks with RadioRoam® wireless roaming. Agencies can seamlessly integrate mobile workers into their wireless LAN or WAN, even using handheld devices like Pocket PC, giving them access to the same software applications and information as wired workers.

InterAct's own TrueSentry intelligent digital video surveillance system is built on a mature technology that has been managing a global network of cameras (even a NASA camera on the South Pole) for almost 10 years. During this time we have captured, archived and delivered over 1 billion media clips from thousands of cameras. This background is the perfect experience and credential to offer and deliver robust video surveillance for public safety.

Public safety means large city, county, state and/or country camera deployments with potential thousands of geographically distributed cameras producing hoards of media. TrueSentry is the platform to manage these networks of cameras, the resulting media, and intelligently deliver video to the command center and even to dispatched units and first responders in the field.

We have the architecture for applying hundreds of intelligent video analytics algorithms to the video feeds to make the resulting video of large camera networks more useful. What this means is that you can define characteristics and behaviors that the cameras should be looking for. By defining a fence in the field of view of the camera it can then recognize when someone is climbing over it. By defining a road and the direction of traffic the camera can recognize when a car is traveling the wrong direction, it can count the number of cars traveling that street, and two cars coming together is recognized as a crash. Even gunshots can be recognized (see recent ABC7 News Story on Chicago's New Command Center). Once a trigger is set, an audible alert announces the violation, and that camera's view is brought to the forefront, focused on the incident, so Command Center personnel can evaluate whether additional response is necessary.

TrueSentry can be easily integrated into the applications required to effectively respond and dispatch teams (including InterAct's CAD, GIS and Emergency Notifications) to handle the actionable video alerts raised. The most basic benefits - decreased response times on one hand...and a reduction of false alarms on the other.