IP Products

IP in NY

by Mark Rowe

In New York, IP video management software (VMS) has been integrated by EIA, Inc. with ShotSpotter gunshot detection and the Hawkeye Effect digital mapping to help the Nassau County Police Department fight criminal firearm activity.

With the goal of driving down gun violence in the Roosevelt-Uniondale area, the Nassau County Police Department wanted to use its XProtect video software from Milestone Systems. To help deter gun crime and assist in solving firearm-related cases, the department sought more use of its street cameras.

This area of Nassau County had a large number of shooting incidents – both reported to the police and unreported. Authorities sought to track gunshots and provide evidence and convictions. How could police use CCTV video towards real-time incident response? Detective Lieutenant Ken Strigaro, Nassau County Police says: “The key was to expand the functionality of our already deployed Milestone system with an integrated ShotSpotter solution. The HawkEye Effect was also integrated seamlessly with Milestone and we now have a scalable, reliable 24-hour police watch for a safer county.”

ShotSpotter’s sensors locate gunshots in the coverage area of the CCTV cameras, and the HawkEye Effect to triangulate the sensors, map the location, direct the cameras to the location and notify first responders while recording the video. The HawkEye Effect correlates a gunshot’s location and sends the information to the XProtect software, which controls the pan, tilt and zoom of the cameras.

Milestone channel partner EIA Inc. installed the system to meet the Nassau Police requirements for automated gunshot detection, location, reporting and video verification. The Milestone XProtect Corporate video management software automatically adjusts the video recording rates to the maximum number of frames per second to capture incidents in the greatest detail.

The system not only detects gunshots, it is able to differentiate between fireworks or backfiring vehicles, the makers say. Within ten seconds it locates the gunshot, plots the incident on a map, turns the CCTV cameras to the location and possible egress points, records the incident and notifies law enforcers. Information retrieved from the camera and the location is processed through Milestone XProtect, available for evidence sharing. Jeff Blair, CEO for the HawkEye Effect, said: “By integrating mapping into the Milestone XProtect Smart Client, we can almost immediately have police eyes on a target through the very intuitive interface. Nassau County uses the HawkEye mapping technology, but all the camera interaction is handled by the Milestone platform.”

ShotSpotter uses a series of sensors placed throughout the area to be monitored. The software triangulates a gunshot location as a GPS coordinate and provides the nearest street address. The HawkEye Effect translates this information and creates a series of polygons across the area where the shot was fired. The polygon graphics relate to a camera preset position in Milestone XProtect or to an area that cannot be directly seen by the camera but may be a point of escape from the area where the gunshot was fired.

If the coordinates of the shot fired are outside the camera view, it redirects to an area off a major avenue that is roughly where the shot was fired, to provide a view of the incident as it happens or pick up someone fleeing the scene. If a victim is injured, the authorities can see it in the video and report the injury, speeding up response.

David Engel, CEO of EIA Inc, says: “Without Milestone this system wouldn’t have been possible. The HawkEye gateway has a Milestone link service, via the Milestone Software Development Kit (SDK), for an integration that is able to communicate to the video management software, feeding it different presets to turn the cameras. We had to carefully map out the geography of the area and, using Milestone’s open program interfaces with the HawkEye Effect mapping, create an integration with ShotSpotter that would tell Milestone XProtect which cameras to move and where, when a gunshot was detected.”

Blair adds: “Milestone’s open platform architecture is exceptionally easy to work with, providing the means, tools and resources to enable further innovation. As Milestone constantly expands, the software provides the keys necessary to leverage the resources that customers have already invested. Milestone makes it easy for partners like us to code our technology in a forthright manner, allowing end users to benefit from the latest and greatest software and hardware integrations for comprehensive deployments such as this in Nassau County.”

The ShotSpotter system sends coordinates and categorizes information about the type of bullet and number of shots fired. When a shot is detected, 911 centre operators are provided a pop-up video display on the screen. At the same time, a copy of the information is sent to the HawkEye Gateway to determine the location, coordinating the camera views through Milestone XProtect.

Gregg Rowland, Senior VP at ShotSpotter, says: “Any information, whether it includes longitude, latitude or time, can be used – in this case with Milestone XProtect, by programming exactly what you need. The cameras are geo-referenced by the HawkEye Effect, so if you say ‘Gunshot happened on this corner, send closest camera to that location,’ the PTZ directly lines up to where the event happened and turns every other camera to egress routes. There is a lot of creativity with what we do with the data.”

Other uses see video management with analytics for counting cars or people, with laser scanners for unique perimeter control, with access control or HVAC systems and RFID.

About Milestone Systems

Founded in 1998, Milestone Systems offers open platform IP video management software.

For more information, visit: www.milestonesys.com.

Related News

  • IP Products

    Fibre offering

    by Mark Rowe

    Excel Networking Solutions, the copper and optical cabling infrastructure products provider, has added high density products to its fibre offering; and has…

  • IP Products

    Series of network cameras

    by Mark Rowe

    Dahua Technology, the Chinese manufacturer and supplier of video surveillance products based in Hangzhou, has introduced its new Eco-Savvy 2.0 series of…

Newsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to stay on top of security news and events.

© 2024 Professional Security Magazine. All rights reserved.

Website by MSEC Marketing