IP Video, Access Control System Helping To Secure Texas Police Station

911SecurityCamera Inc. recently announced the completion of an integrated IP surveillance system for the Deer Park Police Station in Texas.

The IP video surveillance solution gives the department centralized control over all aspects of security. The surveillance system provides 24 hour monitoring of all areas of the department's operations including booking areas, holding cells, interview rooms, parking lots and the entrances. A key task of the project was planning the layout of the IP security cameras, to guarantee the optimum balance between security coverage and cost.

The Deer Park Police department is no stranger to using state-of-the art technology. Last year the department was awarded funds to install the new Coban digital video recording system into 10 marked patrol cars. The city of Deer Park, located near Houston, employs a total of 61 licensed police officers and 46 full and part time civilians.

Major savings in infrastructure costs can be owed to the use of IP camera technology. An IP camera's video signal transmits directly over Ethernet, using existing local or wide area network infrastructure.

Ethernet also allows transmission of PTZ camera control commands on a single cable. In addition, video intelligent analytics software is embedded within the camera circuitry, as opposed to the server, resulting in cost savings and performance improvements. The camera’s analytics will help the police department analyze video quicker and with more efficiency while maintaining the integrity of the digital evidence.

A major part of the installation is 21 ACTi 1.3 megapixel cameras with recording resolution of 1260x1024. The benefit of implementing megapixel cameras resulted in a significant cost savings for the police department. Megapixel technology reduced the number of cameras required because the image produced covers three times more area than a conventional camera.

911 Security Camera's team layered the new IP access control on top of the police station’s existing access control system. The new access control system manages 21 interior/exterior doors with full integration into the complete system. Twenty-five IP cameras are managed by one network management tool.

Cameras selected for the project include 21 ACTI 1.3 megapixel cameras and four IP PTZ cameras. Four of the ACTi 1.3 mega pixel cameras are outside cameras to monitor parking lots, entrances/exits and perimeters of the police station. Seventeen of the ACTi 1.3 megapixel cameras are inside cameras to monitor all activities within the police station.

To manage the access control database and the video files, 911 Security deployed two custom built servers powered by Dual Xeon processors equipped with 60 days of storage at 30 fps and 1.3 megapixel resolution.

NUUO IP video surveillance software manages all the ACTi IP cameras and IP PTZ cameras, allowing the police officers to monitor all camera activity simultaneously on a single network. NUUO video surveillance software was also chosen not only for its flexibility and compatibility but also for its user-friendly interface and rich features. Some such features are built-in Web server, remote live viewer, embedded video enhancement tools and detection of missing or foreign objects.

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