Boosting Security
Saratoga Springs’ businesses, residents and tourists are safer with secure VMS
- By Courtney Dillon Pedersen
- Feb 01, 2016
Every summer, the Saratoga Race Course
brings thousands of visitors to the City of
Saratoga Springs, NY. The revenue generated
during the racing season boosts the
city’s economy for the rest of the year. Prior
to beginning the 2013 season, Saratoga
Springs city administrators sought to significantly update city
surveillance, both in City Hall and on city streets.
The camera coverage then consisted of mainly interior spaces
with limited visibility of areas outside city hall. The existing system
was installed without a post-installation maintenance contract
so the city was operating without vendor support.
Getting the Money
Saratoga Springs’ Safety Committee helped to secure capital
budget monies for these projects along with seed money from the
city’s risk and safety budget. After deliberation, the committee
engaged Digital Surveillance Solutions (DSS) as their security
integrator for this project. DSS was chosen from the New York
State Office of General Services Security Contractors List.
DSS’ objective was to make the best use of allotted budget
while at the same time achieving a robust and reliable system that
would require minimal maintenance. After a detailed site survey,
DSS presented the city with a comprehensive design and implementation
plan. The first phase was deployed with the installation
of six cameras on the city streets using a wireless network
and a centralized video recording server at city hall. In July 2015,
an additional camera was added to the city streets’ wireless network
with several more camera additions inside and outside city
hall and the police department.
The software platform for the video server is Milestone XProtect
Corporate 2014. The camera feeds are streamed into the
Milestone system and are monitored by the Saratoga Springs Police Department. Subsequent to the initial
deployment, independent Milestone
XProtect Essential systems have been deployed
to historic Congress Park and various
city departments. Each remote system
provides local administration, monitoring,
and recording. There are 15 cameras in
Congress Park, nine at the Department of
Public Works, 16 at the recreation center,
seven on various downtown streets and 10
at the Woodlawn parking garage. The recreation
center now includes Axis network
cameras as well as Bosch and American
Dynamics analog cameras digitally converted
by an Axis video encoder. The other
locations feature a mix of Axis, IQeye
and Mobotix cameras.
Using the Milestone Interconnect feature
set, all of the remote Milestone XProtect
Essential video systems are monitored
on demand and centrally administered by
the Milestone XProtect Corporate platform
from the police department.
The Advantage of
a Heartbeat
Milestone now serves as the heartbeat of
an expandable security system. Milestone
Interconnect makes it easy and cost efficient
to add more Axis cameras in other
locations of the city. The Saratoga Springs
Police Department can centrally control
the cameras across the city from its base
in city hall.
“What makes the Milestone option so
attractive is that it allows the city to invest
in a system that’s ready to use and can also
handle scalable expansion in conjunction
with the city’s growth,” said Marilyn Rivers,
director of risk and safety for the city
of Saratoga Springs.
Historic City with
Big Seasonal Events
Saratoga Springs, New York, is an upstate
community with a year-round population
of 37,000 that can triple during public
events including the Saratoga Race
Course season. Steeped in history, Saratoga’s
Travers’ Race in August is considered
the fourth race of the Triple Crown.
The city assists in sponsoring many festivals
and special events that bring acclaim
and attention to its historic properties and
cultural diversity. In addition to the historic
Saratoga Race Track, the city’s major
attractions include the famous Spirit
of Life Statue forged by Daniel Chester
French (the sculptor of Abraham Lincoln),
the Saratoga Performing Arts Center
(SPAC), Saratoga Springs Casino and
Raceway, First Night on New Year’s Eve,
February’s Chowderfest, multiple road
races and Arts in Congress Park.
The Power of Choice with
Open Platform Technology
DSS has a decade of experience working
with Milestone software and they were
honored as Milestone Partner of Year in
2009. Mike Blumenson, CEO of DSS,
said they recommend it almost exclusively
to customers, in part because of the freedom
of choice that comes with the open
architecture support of nearly 5,000 hardware
devices from more than 150 manufacturer
brands.
“The open platform is a key selling
point to a customer that hasn’t worked
with us or with Milestone,” Blumenson
said. “If for some reason our relationship
is ever discontinued, the customer still has
a product that works with everyone else’s
products. It’s future proof.”
Mike Ruthman works on strategic sales
for DSS and was involved with drafting
their proposal to Saratoga Springs. He adds
that bringing in Milestone did not require
that DSS get rid of the existing system.
“One of the best features of the open
platform is that we could keep the existing
cameras that were in place in the city without
disruption,” Ruthman said. “We had
Axis cameras in City Hall already. Instead
of having to remove these cameras, it was
just a matter of putting in Milestone as
the recording platform without additional
investment. Unifying all cameras to the
Milestone platform eliminated the need to
maintain and monitor multiple, independent
systems from several manufacturers.
New Axis network cameras and the Milestone
management software layer were
added seamlessly. Additionally, as legacy
cameras run their lifespan, new cameras
are added and Milestone is the perfect
platform for replacement and expansion
of these systems.”
In addition to city hall, the Saratoga
Recreation Center has 16 cameras running
Milestone. John Hirliman is the administrative
director of recreation for Saratoga
Springs. Eight of the cameras are part of
Saratoga’s previous security system, but
they all now run through Milestone via the
Axis video encoder.
“We had an incident where we had the
theft of a camera in the gymnasium,” Hirliman
said. “With Milestone, we were able to
track the individual from the moment he
took it and quickly apprehend him, resolving
the incident quickly and efficiently.”
Axis and Milestone Easy
to Use, Hassle-free
Hirliman emphasizes how easy Milestone
was for him and his staff to learn.
“The desktop version is really simple,”
Hirliman says. “The freeze frame and
zoom tabs are great for incident management.
We also have a PTZ camera out on
the rec field that we can rotate and zoom
in close to see everything that’s going on.”
Milestone Interconnect
Unifies Operations,
Crowd Monitoring
Blumenson and Ruthman say that using
Milestone Interconnect has been a key
component to the successful deployment
in Saratoga Springs.
“The city is using Milestone in a variety
of locations,” Blumenson said. “It’s
essential that every location’s cameras
stream back in to central command at the
Police Department through Milestone Interconnect.”
Rivers says that Milestone helps Saratoga
Springs control the big population
surge it receives in the summer months
and during special events.
“Saratoga is a destination,” Rivers said.
“We have a racetrack that brings tens of
thousands of visitors, and many great restaurants
and historical attractions. Milestone
allows us to monitor crowds and their
activities; to proactively manage the city’s
risks and take action as may be needed.”
Rivers says the benefits of the Axis
cameras and Milestone open platform go
beyond monetary savings.
“You can’t really put a dollar amount
on it but I think of it as a peace-of-mind
factor,” Rivers said. “The city of Saratoga
Springs is rooted in friendliness and hospitality.
We love to open our arms and show
visitors the best of what our city has to
offer. With Axis, Milestone and DSS, we
can do that safely and securely while also
assisting our local business owners and
constituents.”
This article originally appeared in the February 2016 issue of Security Today.