Nov 27, 2014

Ogdensburg, New York, is just like any city in that its young people like to congregate in central locations to hang out and enjoy social time. In Ogdensburg, some hot spot destinations for young people are Kids Kingdom, a skate park and the city’s marina, according to North Country Now. But the more popular a destination, the greater likelihood there is for accidents to occur. After all, you put a lot of kids in a busy skate park, and it doesn’t take much imagination to see how somebody could get hurt every once in a while. At the city administrative level, safety at these public places represents a top priority. That’s why the city is pursuing a real time surveillance solution for these popular destinations.

A possible move toward a safer city
Ogdensburg’s city government is currently in the process of considering a proposed $25,000 security camera system that would be installed at the places discussed above. The system would be geared toward making these places safer for the people frequenting them. If installed, live video feeds from the three places will be transmitted to a central control center. There, an operator will not only be able to oversee the security of these places, but will have the ability to zoom, pivot and turn the cameras. Let’s say, for instance, a kid is skateboarding and experiences a fall. The person or people in the control center would be able to hone in on this to determine if it represented an emergency situation or something more benign.

But it’s not only skateboard tumbles that the security cameras would be on the lookout for. As Ogdensburg’s mayor William Nelson pointed out during the city council hearing on the proposal, security cameras in the city helped play a pivotal role in enabling a meth bust to happen thanks to the identity-verifying strength of the cameras in place.

When it comes to enhancing the city’s law enforcement efforts, there’s little dispute as to the efficacy of video surveillance. At a council meeting back in October, North County Now reported that, “City Police Chief Rick Polniak said the cameras would be a useful tool for law enforcement agencies as they could not constantly patrol the area.”

Ogdensburg not alone in city surveillance
Ogdensburg is hardly the only city to explore the virtues of real-time surveillance in a more comprehensive way. Indeed, this truly represents a globe-spanning effort. In India, for instance, Surrat recently became “the first city in the country to have a modern, real-time CCTV surveillance network. In the first phase, 104 CCTV cameras were installed at 23 locations together with a 280 square feet video wall, one of the largest in the country, at the city’s police control room,” according to The Times of India.

With efforts like these underway in cities across the world, it’s important that regions and businesses looking into similar solutions pursue the best possible options. After all, lackluster surveillance leads to below-par results. For this reason, it’s imperative that cities and organizations examine the real time surveillance solutions offered by Firetide. Thanks to its cutting-edge node technology, Firetide offers an unparalleled level of efficiency when it comes to implementing surveillance efforts that will ensuregreater overall public safety. What sets Firetide apart from more traditional options – which are often encumbered by limited bandwith and therefore experience lag time – is that fact that our mesh networks allow for the immediate sharing of surveillance feeds as they’re being generated. The speed and quality provided by Firetide makes it a truly next-generation leader as far as surveillance goes.