Municipal Wireless Surveillance at Work

Ksenia Coffman

Firetide

April 2011

� Sandy UT: How to design, deploy and run a successful

outdoor video surveillance system

� Dallas PD: Results and outcomes of a city video

surveillance program

Objectives

� Community of 95,000 people

� Adjacent to Salt Lake City

� 140 employees in Sandy PD

Sandy, Utah

Why Wireless

Challenging terrain

Cost considerations

Speed of deployment

Flexibility of placement

Fixed Wireless Infrastructure

Head node Edge node

Point-to-point radio

Mesh radio

Portable Video Mesh Solution

Rapid deployment

Battery powered

Stand alone or meshed

AgileMesh units with integrated mesh nodes

Mobile Command Center

� CDMA

� Satellite

� Wireless

mesh

Access to Video in Police Cruisers

CDMA aircard-enabled laptops provide access to video

Urban Fishery park: camera view & laptop view

Deployment Considerations

Available infrastructure

Coverage area

Line of sight

Terrain

Throughput

Future expansion

Site Survey

Review proposed

locations

Feasibility “walk-

through”

Detailed site

survey

Network Design

Jordan Commons

office building

City Hall

Anticipate Deployment Challenges

� Topography

� Weather

� Power &

grounding

Design With Flexibility in Mind

Node placement and antenna selection are critical

Prepare for a Variety of Conditions

Anticipate line-of-sight, power, grounding issues

Dallas City Surveillance

Where the system is today

Results

City of Dallas

GoalsImproved quality of life

Urban revitalization

Better deterrence, detection, & investigation

Reduction of operating costs

ChallengesDHS listed Dallas among top 10 cities to be targeted by terrorists

Police department staffing and budget limits

Potential disruption to infrastructure, traffic

Where City of Dallas Installation is Today

152 camerasLargest all-wireless city surveillance system in the U.S.

Additional cameras to be incorporated in 2011

165 mesh nodes

8 monitoring stations

New Mobile Command Center (2009)

New Monitoring Center in City Hall (2010)

High-resolution, Real-time Video

Picture of LCD monitor in Dallas PD Camera Unit: real-time zoom onto a license plate

Handling Challenging Conditions

Repeater node“Urban canyon”

Results

2008 2009 2010

Calls Involving Cameras 4,388 6,259 7,422

Arrests Made 1,142 1,536 2,138

Offenses Recorded 249 285 389

Events Monitored 70 253 176

Evidence DVDs Created 59 70 39

Impact on Crime

Violent CrimeNon-Violent

CrimeTotal Crime

Downtown Dallas Down 35% Down 35% Down 35%

Uptown Dallas Down 31% Down 37% Down 37%

Jubilee Park Neighborhood Down 52% Down 60% Down 59%

Lessons Learned

Operation

Prioritize locations via threat assessment,

crime stats

Choose the right partners

Leverage relationships within the

organization

Have realistic expectations

Technology

Always perform a site survey!

Make sure your network can scale

Leverage existing infrastructure

�23

Thank You!

Ksenia Coffman, Firetide

kcoffman@firetide.com

Twitter: @KseniaCoffman, @Firetide

Firetide booth # 24083