Cover Story
Metro Security
Bexar County Texas uses best of breed security systems to launch EOC
- By Ralph C. Jensen
- Feb 01, 2018
It has been a long time coming, but the
Bexar County Metro 911 Emergency
Operations Center (EOC) is up and running,
and the security systems implemented
to protect the facility are among
the best of the best. The regional operations
center unifies emergency operations into one
cutting-edge facility.
A New Home
Built in San Antonio, Texas, the EOC provides
a new home for the Bexar County
Sheriff’s communications operations and is
an alternate site for the San Antonio police
and San Antonio fire and EMS operations.
The facility is a joint operations center
not only for Bexar County but also for
Comal (New Braunfels) and Guadalupe
(Sequin) counties. All three counties touch
dividing lines and are considered part of the
San Antonio metro area. Bexar Metro 911
executive director Bill Buchholtz said building
the facility has stayed on budget of $40
million, “give or take a couple of million.”
The electrical system meets Tier IV data
center standards for maintaining operations
regardless of any unplanned activity, and the
mechanical system meets Tier III standards.
Because the building is under a tight security
system inside and out, it was also important
that redundant systems were in place, as well
as uninterrupted power. Employees based
at the monitors on the main floor are given
breaks every so often to decompress, relax
and interact.
Alterman Technologies was hired to provide,
install and direct the security solutions
effort for general contractor Whiting-Turner,
who directed construction on the 81,500
square foot facility located on 11 acres of land.
Early Stages of Planning
Alterman Technologies’ staff was fortunate
to work with the general contractor in the
early stages of planning security for this
facility. According to James Carmen, Alterman’s
project engineer, being able to make
early and consistent contact allowed for the
integrator to help specify the types of security
that they felt would most satisfy the end
user. It also allowed the installation crew to
be able to meet their integration deadline of
8 months, long before the overall construction
of the facility was complete.
“We were able to evaluate all components
of the security solution when we saw the demonstrations of the Lenel, Axis and Salient
products,” Carmen said. “We’re pleased
with the decisions we made to deploy this security
equipment.”
To keep the facility secure, Alterman
Technologies installed 170 IP cameras inside
and out to enforce perimeter security. Now
that the facility has been formally dedicated
and is fully in use, if a person doesn’t have a
reason to be on property, they aren’t getting
inside. The facility is secure.
Alterman Technologies installed 120 door
enterprise access control systems, including
iClass biometric readers. To monitor both
the outside perimeter and inside the building
itself, 110 5 MP Axis Communications
IP cameras were paired with Salient Enterprise
video management systems integrated
with the Lenel access control solution. Inside
the operations center, the facility is outfitted
with 100 55-inch video control systems side
by side, all of which are integrated with video
and audio control solutions.
Inside the facility, there is a first-floor,
open room for 104 operator desk consoles,
where operators can keep tabs on all three
counties. Operators sit in a 13,878-squarefoot
Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP)
to handle all 911 calls, formerly managed at
25 different locations. In fact, during the recent
Hurricane Harvey, operators inside are
able to coordinate any and all emergency and
rescue operations.
“The ability to have multiple supervisor
control stations is a key feature, providing
access to sources and allowing supervisors
to manipulate the wall and change presets as
needed,” said Art Salinas, project manager
for Alterman Technologies. “It’s a great system with no real limitations. I believe the client has been pleased with
the capability to control and preview content before it goes on the
wall. They currently have about 30 preset displays.”
Getting Behind the Power
With the number of cameras and the video streaming to the facility,
Salinas had to be certain the equipment he was recommending
and the software that would power the system would work without a
hitch, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“Our work to determine the right kind of solution was very involved,
and we evaluated all the systems,” Salinas said. “When it came
right down to it, we selected Lenel’s OnGuard for access control, Axis
Communications IP cameras and Salient’s VMS and its PowerUltra
servers. All of this is securely stored in an enclosed network so there
is no worry of outside hacking.”
Salient regional sales representative Paul Fisher said the choice
of VMS was truly an important decision because it had to be strong
enough to stop any breaches but also be able to provide the ability to
run the perimeter security system and the internal security.
“Our VMS solution is able to take the lead with all the streaming
video and push it wherever it is directed,” Fisher said. “With three
counties and multiple agencies using this facility, the security solutions
have to be dependable, yet easy to use.
“We were invited in to demonstrate the system, and we were able
to show numerous details that would benefit the end user. We are able
to provide reliability and scalability, and we’re a local company, so
that worked to our benefit as well,” Fisher said.
The facility is designed to provide uninterrupted 911 services during
various emergencies, including terrorist attacks and natural disasters.
There also is an onsite helipad for access by law enforcement officials,
should area roadways be closed or congested, and for staging
for media during a public emergency. The building is constructed to
withstand an EF3 tornado strike and to operate without any public
utilities for an extended period of time.
“The mission of the facility is to provide that
emergency response when a caller is quite possibly
going through the worst experience of their
life,” said James Hasslocher, Bexar Metro 911
network district chairman.
This article originally appeared in the February 2018 issue of Security Today.