A case study of how the Memphis Police Department (MPD) in Tennessee since 2007 has deployed hundreds of analogue and IP cameras and dozens of recorders. With incidents now being captured on video, MPD has noted an increase in criminal cases being taken to court. The city has also built a ‘Real Time Crime Center’ where they can view live video feeds and provide critical information to officers before they arrive at a crime scene.
Kenneth Shackleford is a former technology manager at MPD who has since retired from the force. “I started looking at ways that we could start installing cameras throughout the city,” Shackleford said. He is now vice president of sales at SkyCop, a local installer that specializes in law enforcement, military, and private industry installations.
SkyCop and MPD decided on three configurations: cameras attached to utility poles, cameras attached to buildings, and mobile trailers. To date, the police department has established about 600 of Hikvision’s analogue and IP bullet and dome PTZ cameras throughout the city. Building exteriors, for example, are often outfitted with the DS-2CD2032-I, a 3 MP outdoor bullet camera with a body type that allows for mounting. This camera also features line crossing and intrusion detection. These features can send alerts to the police when someone enters or leaves a designated area.
The Chinese CCTV manufacturer’s DarkFighter PTZ camera (DS-2DF8223I-AEL) is also in use. With features such as detection of region entrance/exit and detection of audio loss, the DarkFighter features 120 dB wide dynamic range as well as a 23x optical zoom lens with auto-focus. These elements help to provide colour images day and night — making the DarkFighter suitable the makers say for 24-hour surveillance.
The footage from these cameras, which are placed at strategic points around Memphis, flows back to the MPD Real Time Crime Center (RTCC).
“We have a video wall with dozens of monitors and we can pull up any camera feed in the city,” said Sergeant Joseph Patty, who has succeeded Shackleford as the video surveillance manager for MPD. “We have about 30 workstations out on the floor that can view the video wall or pull up any camera feed.”
MPD has seen noticeable benefits from their citywide surveillance. “We have four or five cases prosecuted each week thanks to these incidents being captured on video,” Sergeant Patty said. “Plus, we’re able to dispatch calls from the RTCC and view live video before the officer even arrives on the scene.”
Jeffrey He, president of Hikvision USA and Hikvision Canada, commented on Hikvision products in the law enforcement and safe cities verticals. “As more municipalities use video surveillance to protect their citizens, they turn to Hikvision for highly scalable, easy to use products at the forefront of state-of-the-art video surveillance technology. Hikvision is pleased to play such an important role in keeping Memphis safe.”
