DVTel Solution Helps Fight Crime In Baltimore
DVTel Inc. recently announced that the city of Baltimore continues to expand its ambitious neighborhood surveillance program using the DVTel intelligent Security Operations Center (iSOC). Tele-Tector of Maryland designed the dedicated fiber backbone and served as project manager, responsible for installation coordination with the various Baltimore city departments and sub-contractors.
What started out as a relatively small video surveillance initiative aimed at high-profile tourist areas has expanded to high-risk neighborhoods where upwards of 275 cameras are deployed to prevent and investigate crime on Baltimore's streets. The iSOC was chosen by the Baltimore mayor's office and is operated by the Baltimore Police Department in six different locations, each dedicated to proactive monitoring of suspicious activity. In addition to the neighborhood surveillance cameras, DVTel iSOC software also manages an additional 91 cameras—all wireless—in four Baltimore housing projects.
Many of the city surveillance cameras also are wireless, which was part of the appeal of the DVTel solution.
"We don't have optic fiber running under the streets once we expanded outside of downtown," said Beth Hart, manager of CCTV for the mayor's office of IT. "We couldn't be trenching for blocks and blocks, so DVTel's combination of wired and wireless technology was very appealing to us."
All cameras are PTZ models and are located in high-traffic areas. Each neighborhood is monitored at a dedicated monitoring station. Proactive monitoring is done for an extensive amount of time each day, and all cameras are recorded 24 hours a day at 30 fps to maximize the effectiveness of post-event investigation. But post-event analysis isn't the primary focus.
"We're actively looking for suspicious activity, and our monitoring personnel are skilled in knowing what to look for. Once they pick something up, they monitor live, as well as do playback, then they are in direct contact with officers called to the scene. When those officers arrive, they receive as complete a brief as possible on what happened, who's involved and what the possible next steps are," Hart said.
The DVTel system and the policy of proactive monitoring are proving effective. Numerous violent acts have been successfully investigated and are often caught live, so monitoring personnel can effectively support police reaching the scene. Video surveillance has been used to monitor gang activity and identify license plates, as well people involved in incidents.