Success Story: Keeping an eye on the Super Bowl
Phoenix Police Department
Phoenix, AZ
Company:
Firetide
Los Gatos, CA
The Problem:
The greater Phoenix area played host to the NFL’s championship game in early February. And with hundreds of thousands of fans pouring into Phoenix, the Department of Homeland Security declared the football game a Level 1 National Security Event. In years past, the Phoenix Police Department handled event security with police officers manning doorways and intersections, or on rooftops with binoculars. Now, it was time to better leverage available resources by taking advantage of wireless video surveillance.
The Solution:
Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies worked together in a joint operations effort to protect the public. As part of their preparations, the Phoenix Police Department installed a Firetide wireless video surveillance network. The police department’s downtown command center received real-time, secure, wireless video from 40 cameras mounted on light poles, high rises and other locations. The Firetide wireless surveillance network became a "force multiplier," reducing the number of officers required to protect the city. "We achieved a saving of 30 to 50 percent of manpower in the areas covered by video, because we didn’t have to have the officers at every location," said detective Chris Jensen of the Phoenix PD.
Operators controlled the cameras remotely to pan, tilt and zoom. The broadcast quality video could be slowed or frozen to analyze the situation, to identify problems, and stop the problems before they could escalate. The police dispatched officers within seconds and provided up-to-date information as they responded to incidents.
In addition to the fixed Firetide mesh nodes, SWAT teams had Firetide mobile nodes in their vehicles, allowing them to pull up real-time video on demand. The Firetide network also transmitted the video from the Phoenix PD’s downtown command center to the rooftop of City Hall, where it was relayed in real time to the joint federal and state operations center three miles away.
Other Applications:
Firetide enables concurrent streaming of voice, data and video over a secure, high-performing infrastructure, which delivers up to 70 Mbps throughput. Affordability, flexibility and ease of deployment have allowed many public safety agencies to deploy Firetide networks to improve security, decrease response times and increase the safety of first responders.
Contact:
Firetide Inc.
16795 Lark Ave, Suite 200
Los Gatos, CA 95032
www.firetide.com
408-399-7771
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