Pennsylvania Sheriff’s Office Breaks Free Of Analog System To Improve Security

  • Jun 17, 2008

The Sheriff’s Office in charge of protecting the Cumberland County Courthouse in Pennsylvania had an outdated analog system that gave them no useful evidence for prosecutions. Implementing a best-of-breed surveillance solution based on the Milestone IP video management open platform has given officials what they need now and in the future, with full overview and proactive control of their security.

Cumberland County Courthouse is a five-story building holding 19 different county offices for 350 personnel, five courtrooms, holding cells, maintenance areas, server rooms and walk-in safes. The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office is responsible for general law enforcement duties as well as serving civil process, prisoner transports and physical security of the County buildings.

“Our previous system was a VHS analog system that was not worth the electricity it consumed. Not once did it ever provide any useful information for prosecution purposes. Within the three minutes it took me to become accustomed to the Milestone software, I was able to review, save the video snippets to a file, and burn them as needed,” said Bryan Ward, administrative sergeant, for the Cumberland County Sheriffs' Office. “On a busy court day we will move as many as 60 prisoners from the jail two miles away to our holding cells, to public courtrooms, and back. We now have the right surveillance to monitor all of this to maintain the safety of everyone.”

Cam-Tek, a certified Milestone Partner, collaborated with Sergeant Ward in the implementation of Milestone XProtect Enterprise. The solution includes more than 30 different network cameras from a variety of leading manufacturers such as Axis, Mobotix, Panasonic and Sony, covering the hallways, elevators, stairwells, and entrances, the sheriff vehicle parking, various alleys and roads that surround the courthouse.

The open platform of Milestone IP video management software is unique in supporting the widest choice in surveillance hardware -- more than 400 network models. No matter which manufacturers come out with new innovations in future, the courthouse officers will be able to stay on the forefront of technology.

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