City Surveillance Solution

This was published in the July, 2010 issue of SDM Magazine on pages 77-78. Unfortunately they have not published this online to view from their website. This is a project that I was heavily involved in with one of my customers and I think it's worth having a link somewhere on the internet for people to view (photos and captions at the bottom):

City Surveillance Solution

Safety and Security – A Walk in the Park

When you go to the park, your goal is likely relaxation, exercise, maybe a picnic, overall general enjoyment. Certainly, you don’t go expecting a pickpocket, vandal or even worse. And neither do the people of the City of Greer in South Carolina. A quaint, beautiful city, 25,000 strong, the leadership at the City of Greer wanted to create a new 14-acre city park for its citizens. And first on their mind was the safety and security of the park’s visitors.

Said Jim Ridgill IT Director with the City of Greer, “Safety issues were certainly top of mind when creating the park and implementing a security solution with total coverage. We needed to make sure we had all areas covered for the surveillance of potential crimes.”

And while security was the driving factor, it was also of utmost importance that the surveillance solution be aesthetically pleasing. With more than 100 ornamental lampposts on the campus, the end-user customer was adamant that there were no obtrusive-looking surveillance cameras hanging off of the posts. That directive could have made a difference in the entire project meeting completion.

To that end, the team at the City of Greer brought in their long-time reseller partner, Diversified Electronics, to guide them on the appropriate solution to implement. Together, the teams walked through the park to outline areas needing camera coverage and to find the best viewing angles.

Diversified Electronics and the City of Greer also worked with the local police department to ensure blanket coverage of the park was considered.

Once the site visit was completed and the objectives were in place, Tom Drake, sales representative for Diversified Electronics, and his team went to work. Said Drake, “We went to Nick Miller and ScanSource Security and told them what we were trying to accomplish. We asked what they would recommend and made sure that they understood that the project hinged on the proper cameras and views coupled with a pleasant outdoor housing that met the appearance objective.”

And for ScanSource, the goal was to come up with a design where everything fit – from the encoders to the cameras – while looking pleasant, in short, not being noticeable, and providing the highest-quality surveillance operations. After considering all of the available options, the team decided on a completely wireless security solution. Working with an already-constructed facility, a wireless solution made the best business sense versus having to dig up the property to run fiber lines and pull cable. What’s more, a wireless solution would allow the City to keep the beauty and aesthetics of the park in place.

To meet those requirements, ScanSource Security came up with an ideal solution that included Dotworkz D2 outdoor housing system, VideoIQ Encoders, analog dome cameras, Firetide Wireless Mesh, and Ditek Surge Protection. Working with Firetide’s high-performance wireless network to handle the bandwidth requirements of live video streaming and VideoIQ’s built-in storage products to provide storage with every camera in its own housing, Diversified Electronics was able to eliminate any bandwidth concerns.

And to keep the solution out of sight, the team even had a body shop paint the Dotworkz D2 housings and the antennas to match the color of the lamppost. In short, no detail was left unturned. Much of that credit goes to the Diversified Electronics team, including Gerald Culpepper and Marquis Scott. Said Drake, “Gerald and Marquis spent hours coming up with a design that would work and ensuring everything was done properly and professionally.”

As it is with all municipalities, budget was very important. Diversified Electronics and ScanSource were mindful of that in choosing the products for the solution. Diversified Electronics worked closely with the ScanSource Reseller Financial Services team to ensure the financing was available for the deal. And thanks to the design and functionality of the housing products, they were able to use indoor versions of the radio. Added Gary Pfeiffer, with VideoIQ, “Indoor equipment in the Dotworkz outdoor housing solution will save money and anguish during the installation.”

The icing on the cake for the City of Greer team was the video analytics with object recognition provided by the VideoIQ encoders. Said Ridgill with the City of Greer, “The ability to search all of the cameras for a particular set of criteria was a great tool for us. We had one instance in the park where someone threw toilet paper into the fountain and we were able to get more than 380 hits of various people walking around the fountain and decipher who the culprit was.”

The final project, at this stage, includes nearly 60 of the poles mounted with the surveillance solution, with more on the way.

Added Drake, “Selling the project is one thing. Making it happen successfully and fulfilling the customer’s expectations is another. And our team, led by Gerald and Marquise, along with the service and support from ScanSource, worked hard to make that happen.” Diversified’s contracted IT System Architect Charles Byrd designed the wireless network and worked closely with Jim Ridgill to integrate all five of the locations of the system into the City’s network.

So was the customer happy? When the City Administrator first saw the solution implemented and in place, his first words were, “You sure outdid yourselves.” Not only was the solution in place to keep visitors to the park safe, but it was created so that those visitors weren’t distracted by the ample number of surveillance solutions around the park. A key challenge was to ensure the solution – color, size, placement – didn’t detract from the beauty of the park. Overall, inconspicuous is what the team was looking for. And from all accounts, those goals were achieved. And then some.

Greer City Hall is protected through an

innovative wireless solution. A body shop

painted the housings and the antennas to

match the color of the lamp posts, keeping

the solution as inconspicuous as possible.

The Greer City Park banners are the

focus, not the surveillance solution.

Security is of the

utmost importance,

but it never detracts

from the aesthetic of

the park.

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF NICK MILLER