Going High Tech

Small town to address big city crime issues

Located 50 miles south of Chicago in Kankakee County and easily accessible via Interstate 57, the village of Manteno is truly a middle-America small town with big city benefits. With a community of about 12,000, Manteno’s proximity to Chicago and other major cities is both positive and negative. Frequently, when a crime is committed or someone is wanted by the authorities, the first thing the criminal does is hit the highway and head out of town. If they head south from Chicago, that leads them straight to Manteno.

“The police in Manteno are often notified to be on the lookout for cars and suspects that may be coming through town, or they are investigating a local incident but details and descriptions can be lacking,” said Todd Creek, owner and CEO of Dura-Tech, a network systems integrator based in Manteno. “Our police and city managers decided to install cameras along a section of the highway to see if we could capture more information and perhaps identify vehicles.”

The video surveillance installation was initiated for forensic purposes as a way to monitor cars that come in and out of town. However, the small police department does not have the resources to monitor the live video streams in real time, 24/7. Instead, the police use the recorded video, which offers many advantages.

“The Manteno Police Department is committed to protecting our community by using all resources available,” said Alan Swinford, chief of police, Manteno Police Department. “By leveraging cuttingedge technologies, like Milestone video management software, we have improved our ability to investigate criminal activity that enters our village or is on our roads.”

The department has a dedicated video room with servers and a monitoring station. Officers can monitor the video feeds in real time, if needed, or review recorded video. They can also watch and review video from their smartphones with the Milestone Mobile application.

“For users granted access the video can be monitored or reviewed at the station, as well as on any department computer. And if officers are out on patrol, they can pull up cameras and video feeds from their phones,” said Jayson Roesel, Dura-Tech project lead. “Often when officers are in the station doing paperwork, they also monitor the cameras to see what’s happening on the highway.”

The system currently has several Axis Q1635 and Q3617 network video cameras with image stabilization, installed along the highway interchange and the dividing roadway that flows in and out of town. The cameras monitor the road lanes and on and off ramps. Additionally, there are four cameras dedicated to zooming in on points of view to capture license plate images.

Creek and his team installed a wireless backhaul from each camera location to a central tower in town that is located at the fire department. From that tower, the video streams over to the police department tower where all the HPE servers running Milestone XProtect Expert software sit for recording, archiving, and processing license plate recognition.

The team also uses video motion detection to help manage the volume of recorded video for the busy intersection. After the initial system was in place, officers realized they could see license plates clearly, then moved forward with a license plate recognition (LPR) video analytic module.

“With the Milestone license plate recognition solution, we have a searchable database of video, so if an incident occurs, we can catch enough data to help police locate or narrow down suspects,” Creek said. “Even partial plate information greatly improves accuracy and speeds up the process when every minute is critical.”

With the added video capabilities, Manteno authorities can alert agencies north or south of town to be on the lookout for specific vehicles with good description details. Not only is the system used as an investigative tool, but it also has become a proactive means to monitor activity and to identify with certainty which direction a vehicle takes when leaving town.

Creek added that the city is currently evaluating video analytic behaviors, like car counting, and is looking at how the system may help to improve public safety in other areas. As the system’s expansion capabilities are realized, the Village of Manteno will continue to develop the solution to benefit the community.

This article originally appeared in the October 2018 issue of Security Today.

About the Author

Courtney Dillon Pedersen is the communications manager – Americas at Milestone Systems.

Featured

  • Trends Keeping an Eye on Business Decisions

    Today, AI continues to transform the way data is used to make important business decisions. AI and the cloud together are redefining how video surveillance systems are being used to simulate human intelligence by combining data analysis, prediction, and process automation with minimal human intervention. Many organizations are upgrading their surveillance systems to reap the benefits of technologies like AI and cloud applications. Read Now

  • The Future is Happening Outside the Cloud

    For years, the cloud has captivated the physical security industry. And for good reason. Remote access, elastic scalability and simplified maintenance reshaped how we think about deploying and managing systems. But as the number of cameras grows and resolutions push from HD to 4K and beyond, the cloud’s limits are becoming unavoidable. Bandwidth bottlenecks. Latency lags. Rising storage costs. These are not abstract concerns. Read Now

  • The Impact of Convergence Between IT and Physical Security

    For years, the worlds of physical security and information technology (IT) remained separate. While they shared common goals and interests, they often worked in silos. Read Now

  • Unlocking Trustworthy AI: Building Transparency in Security Governance

    In situations where AI supports important security tasks like leading investigations and detecting threats and anomalies, transparency is essential. When an incident occurs, investigators must trace the logic behind each automated response to confirm its validity or spot errors. Demanding interpretable AI turns opaque “black boxes” into accountable partners that enhance, rather than compromise, organizational defense. Read Now

  • Seeking Innovative Solutions

    Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. You may recognize these terms as the “5 Phases” of a grieving process, but they could easily describe the phases one goes through before adopting any new or emerging innovation or technology, especially in a highly risk-averse industry like security. However, the desire for convenience in all aspects of modern life is finally beginning to turn the tide from old school hardware as the go-to towards more user-friendly, yet still secure, door solutions. Read Now

New Products

  • A8V MIND

    A8V MIND

    Hexagon’s Geosystems presents a portable version of its Accur8vision detection system. A rugged all-in-one solution, the A8V MIND (Mobile Intrusion Detection) is designed to provide flexible protection of critical outdoor infrastructure and objects. Hexagon’s Accur8vision is a volumetric detection system that employs LiDAR technology to safeguard entire areas. Whenever it detects movement in a specified zone, it automatically differentiates a threat from a nonthreat, and immediately notifies security staff if necessary. Person detection is carried out within a radius of 80 meters from this device. Connected remotely via a portable computer device, it enables remote surveillance and does not depend on security staff patrolling the area.

  • 4K Video Decoder

    3xLOGIC’s VH-DECODER-4K is perfect for use in organizations of all sizes in diverse vertical sectors such as retail, leisure and hospitality, education and commercial premises.

  • Unified VMS

    AxxonSoft introduces version 2.0 of the Axxon One VMS. The new release features integrations with various physical security systems, making Axxon One a unified VMS. Other enhancements include new AI video analytics and intelligent search functions, hardened cybersecurity, usability and performance improvements, and expanded cloud capabilities