THE FIRETIDE BLOG

Securing public places to protect kids

Dec 29, 2014

2014-12-29 Public Parks.jpgStreet corners, sidewalks, parks. They’re public places, and they’re also areas where kids may go unsupervised. After all, sometimes parents need to get that dinner party while their kids wants to play at the neighborhood park. Or maybe they want to have their kids run down to the corner store to pick up some milk. All places kids go should be as safe as possible. Fortunately, with more efforts in various cities underway to deploy wireless surveillance for these public places, parents can rest assured that their children are safer.

A widespread effort to boost surveillance
Elk Grove, California sits outside of Sacremento and is an area where many parents raise families. Kids go to the park, walk the streets and enjoy both freedom and security. What’s the secret? Among others things, it’s that Elk Grove has advanced surveillance solutions in place, as NPR reported. Let’s say a father in Elk Grove is getting dinner ready while his kids are desperate to get some fresh air. Elk Grove is the kind of place where that father could tell his kids, “Go run to the neighborhood park and play,” without having to worry. That’s because Elk Grove is equipped with a wide-ranging wireless surveillance system that ensures that kids playing in the park are under the watchful eye of the local police department.

The effort in Elk Grove to boost surveillance for the sake of collective safety took work and dedication on the part of city workers. One of the people responsible for getting the surveillance system off the ground is Chris Hill, IT manager for the city’s police department. He explained that the city’s video network encompasses over 100 video feeds, which are sent directly to the police department. The cameras are all over the place – not just at public parks, but also in gyms, on the streets and over areas where burglaries have been known to happen. What it all adds up to is a comprehensive picture of a city – a place where it’s difficult to get away with being a criminal.

But for officers to sift through all the video feeds all the time would be an extremely time-consuming and cumbersome task. Fortunately, it’s not something Elk Grove authorities have to get bogged down by, since the city relies on analytic software that sifts through and sorts the footage from the feeds and determines what might need additional attention.

“Instead of watching hours, and maybe days, of video, you can ask questions like, ‘Show me all red cars going east,’ ” said Al Shipp, CEO of 3VR, the software company Elk Grove uses. “Or, ‘Show me all red cars going east — fast.’ Or, ‘All red cars going east, fast, with a partial plate of A-B.’ ”

Citizens are in favor of such measures
Securing places like public parks isn’t just an effort at the city administrative level – it’s also something citizens have been shown to really appreciate. In the city of Auburn, Washington, for instance, a question was posed on the mayor’s website in March 2014 asking citizens, “Should we place surveillance cameras in more public parks?” A look through the feedback from locals reveals overwhelming support for the idea.

“I think we should have cameras in the Auburn Parks,” stated one of Auburn’s residents, Gayle K.  “I’ve seen a lot of graffiti and the only way to charge someone for defacing a park is to have proof.”

Another resident, George W., suggested that better surveillance in Auburn could potentially have stopped an incident that had occurred at one of the city’s parks.

As efforts like these in cities expand, it’s time to pursue a Firetide solution.


Tags:
Category: Public Safety

Archive