Intelligent Video Helps Increase Security At Puerto Rico Housing Complexes
ObjectVideo recently announced ObjectVideo OnBoard has been integrated into Avant Technologies surveillance systems to increase the security of a number of public housing complexes across Puerto Rico. The project is part of a $9.3 million effort by the Puerto Rican government to help ensure public housing safety.
The Avant Technologies-ObjectVideo comprehensive security surveillance system comprises 400 cameras in 20 public housing developments in Puerto Rico. The system consists of Avant's VZip Rack IVIS, a rack mounted digital video encoder, and ObjectVideo OnBoard software for embedded video content analysis that allows rule-based object detection, classification, tracking and real-time alerting.
"Security in public housing is a challenging issue involving a lot of complex social problems and law enforcement," said Carlos Laboy, executive director, Vivienda Public Housing, the largest public housing system in Puerto Rico. "We did a lot of research on security throughout the U.S. and Europe and determined exactly what we needed to improve the quality of life for our residents."
Monitored centrally throughout the day and night, the cameras are meant to be a preventative measure against crime. With ObjectVideo analytics, the police are able to detect, classify and track objects of interest in real-time, and address security concerns as they are happening. The software can distinguish between cars and people, for example, and can monitor and record the activity in the public housing areas.
"In addition to helping us reduce crime, the intelligent video surveillance system has enabled us to improve communication throughout our police force and centralize our public housing issues," Laboy said.
The centrally managed surveillance system provides great efficiencies by eliminating redundancies, improving communication and increasing shared knowledge among police and other public safety officials. In addition, recorded video can be used as evidence in criminal investigations and can reduce the associated costs to the government.
"The public's safety is very important to the government of Puerto Rico, which is evident in its commitment to improving the security of its public housing areas through monitoring and surveillance," said Alberto Diaz, business development manager of Avant Technologies. "It is our hope that our surveillance systems not only help identify and prosecute criminals, but more importantly, serve as a deterrent to crime to keep our cities safe."
Vzip Rack, Avant Technologies' video server, was implemented to centralize the large number of cameras in use. This rack-mounted chassis includes a wide array of interfacing devices for remote alarm monitoring, device control and remote data acquisition, which is important for such a distributed surveillance systems.
"Combining video analytics with a centralized surveillance system creates a powerful crime deterrent and public safety solution, and we are pleased that Avant has leveraged our intelligent video surveillance software in such a positive way," said Brian Eckert, vice president of sales and marketing for ObjectVideo. "Avant Technologies' solutions are critical to the security of the public housing areas of Puerto Rico, and the real-time surveillance enabled by our software is sure to further help in its public safety efforts."