Reducing Crime With Video
In an effort to lower crime rate, the Rockford, Ill., Housing Authority (RHA) installed a security system of video cameras and a wireless mesh network.
The RHA provides assistance for citizens through programs established by Congress and funded through the Department of Housing and Urban Development. These programs include assistance to low-income families, the elderly and people with disabilities. It also provides a variety of housing opportunities, including multi-family developments, high-rise towers and scattered site homes. The Rockford Housing Authority’s low-income public housing program includes 2,100 public housing units along with 1,800 Section 8-voucher holders, making the RHA the third largest public housing authority in Illinois.
The 16 Vicon outdoor IP pan/tilt/zoom cameras were installed last May through November, placed strategically based on the authority’s high crime rate. The RHA task force police force, made of local officials, monitors the cameras.
“Immediately after the cameras were installed, crime and loitering diminished immensely, and both our residents and employees are feeling safer. Equally as important, the installation of the cameras has helped to improve the perception of public housing, especially to prospective residents,” says Lewis Jordan, executive director of the Rockford Housing Authority.
The video cameras and mesh nodes from Firetide, Los Gatos, Calif., are housed in custom-built, bulletproof enclosures designed and built by Montel Technologies, a minority-certified and -operated firm providing expert networking, security, installation and project management services for a range of fiber, wired, and wireless networks and communications systems. “We added the Rockford Police Department logo and flashing police lights as an extra deterrent,” says Ray Montelongo, president of Montel Technologies. “So far they have been extremely effective. These units are extremely rugged, and the quality of the video feeds is excellent.”
The mesh network connects outdoor video surveillance cameras wirelessly to a central location for live monitoring and recording of the video feeds. In a wireless mesh network, each node needs only transmit as far as the next node. Nodes act as repeaters to transmit data from nearby nodes to peers that are too far away to reach, resulting in a network that can span larger distances, especially over rough or difficult terrain. Mesh network are also reliable, as each node is connected to several other nodes. If one node drops out of the network, its neighbors find another route.
“By partnering with Montel and Firetide, we were able to deliver a technology-based solution to make our residents feel safer,” Jordan says. Furthermore, the installation of the cameras has assisted our local police department as well as our property managers in being proactive in addressing potential problems.”
The mesh network includes 16 outdoor enclosures with mesh nodes and IP video cameras plus five indoor mesh nodes for video monitoring and for relaying mesh network traffic. Four police cars are also equipped with mobile Firetide mesh nodes so police officers can view live video from their cars while on patrol.
“This project demonstrates how effective mesh networks are for public safety, especially when outdoor video surveillance is required over a large area,” Firetide CEO Bo Larsson says.
The cameras connect back to viewing stations in the offices as well as laptop computers in the police cars. The mesh network is also connected to the Internet to provide remote access to the monitoring computer and the surveillance cameras. A computer is used for monitoring and for recording video to its hard drive through the Viconnet software. It records 30 days at a time. The IP cameras connect to mesh nodes and the signal goes over the network.
At the Rockford site, the camera enclosures include a battery that provides two hours of backup power. The city is also considering using the same mesh network to deliver broadband Internet access to RHA residents. In the future, the authority would like to build a 24-hour surveillance room for monitoring all cameras and hired personnel.
