Connectivity is king in the police station and on the streets as high bandwidth, low latency wireless data connections become more widely available. Furthermore, with the advancement of smartphones and smart appliances, almost everything connects, records, and reports data to the cloud.
Police officers have growing needs for connectivity, and those needs can compound quickly in emergency situations. As such, police officers and vehicles outfitted with legacy mobile video surveillance cameras (vehicle-mounted or body-worn devices) might be challenged to respond to those needs with low bandwidth connections and devices which only store video locally and then moves it to shared storage after the officer returns to the station.
The delay in gaining access to video evidence is unfortunate. Supervisors must be able to see live or recorded video as soon as possible. Live access to video data also allows for intelligent monitoring of data streams to trigger rapid response to emerging situations.
Further challenging still is the fact that the upsurge in network-attached devices and the interconnection of disparate systems has added to the increasing load of data communications and overloaded the old 3G and 4G networks.
These burdens have led the telecommunications industry to prioritize 5G availability. In fact, over the last two years, 5G availability has become prevalent enough that telecommunications companies are being compelled to shut down the 3G network, leaving some older internet-attached devices obsolete.
5G speeds help move data along
5G is the fifth-generation communication standard for broadband cellular networks. While 4G is still active, it is planned for obsolescence given the reality that 5G delivers much faster data speeds with low latency and improved reliability. This improved bandwidth is good news for IoT and network-based security applications. In addition, the enriched network capacity and availability will allow the boom in measuring, collecting, and analyzing data to come into its own.
The high-priority requirements for communication pathways for law enforcement and other first responders have led many governments to dedicate a portion of the 5G bandwidth for emergency usage. In addition, law enforcement often works with telecommunications providers to allocate extra bandwidth for public safety use to ensure a dependable communications path during regional incidents. When emergencies occur, cell phone networks tend to get overloaded with traffic. The dedicated bandwidth will ensure that 5G dependent services will continue to operate as intended.
With 5G capabilities, centralized police operations centers can now manage the video and security data flowing from disparate remote locations over a strong internet connection. Moreover, the boosted capacity of 5G allows for data-heavy video to be connected wirelessly, shining a light into the darkest corners of the city that had previously been difficult to access with video security surveillance.
Another obvious application of 5G connectivity for the first responders is in the vehicle and body-worn cameras that currently capture live video. While current systems load data to the system storage when they return at the end of the day, 5G gives rise to cameras that can live stream data to a secure cloud-based data storage array. In addition, the fast connection makes live streaming video and sensor data immediately available system-wide.
No doubt, 5G and IoT bring technological advancements to police, traffic, transportation, healthcare, and many other sectors. Nevertheless, with new technology comes unknown risks. In this case, the increased availability of network access means more video surveillance and an increased threat of cybersecurity breaches and data privacy leaks. Governments, businesses, and individuals take these risks seriously; however, most consider the benefits to outweigh the disadvantages. The responsibility for the security of the data stream is on the originator and the holder of the data.
Any latency in the video—even a few seconds—can mean delays in mission-critical decisions by commanders. As such, fast bandwidth and minimal latency are a must-have in emerging technology. 5G devices help make this possible. Telecommunications companies are still building the network in many areas, so keep an eye on this technology in the future as many technology pundits predict significant advancements in the coming years.
Proactive policing with the help of software
Software-assisted monitoring of video streams from body-worn cameras can raise situational awareness and automate a rapid response to any incidents that trigger the monitoring system. A
dvances in connected software are also enabling law enforcement agencies to send autonomous drones and street vehicles into volatile situations ahead of officers to provide situational awareness before putting officers and emergency responders in harm’s way. In another example, if a vehicle moves onto a roadway in the wrong direction, traffic blocking bollards could deploy to prevent wrong-way vehicles from proceeding into a dangerous situation.
Software for emerging applications could trigger an autonomous response when pre-defined events occur. For example, if seismic sensors detect a possible earthquake, drones could launch automatically to survey the proximal area for damage.
XProtect Video Push
Milestone System’s XProtect® video management software (VMS) can turn any smartphone into a surveillance point by capturing live streaming video and audio data (via Video Push) directly into the VMS. XProtect captures live stream video from the smartphone, enabling it to be tagged and searchable within the platform.
Authorized users can use their smartphone or tablet to push video from their device to XProtect, keeping others informed in real-time during a situation situation. The video is viewable live, and the platform stores footage for later investigation. As one can imagine, this might be for capturing a detailed record that can be useful for police commanders making split-second decisions.
As the IoT era dawns, connected devices capture more data than the human mind can fathom. Yet, behind the scenes, reliable software platforms like XProtect® connect disparate security and operational systems, making them more capable than they can be on their own. In addition, XProtect leverages partner technology to apply complex video and audio search algorithms. As a result, the platform provides end-users with viable data and automated processes, triggering an appropriate response to emerging situations.
Many police precincts are speeding to upgrade their systems to take advantage of these new technologies. While the infrastructure upgrade of hardware and software capabilities presents a challenge in some places, the payoffs deliver rapid response, officer safety, automation of standard processes, and improved real-time access to intelligence.
Questions? Learn more about Xprotect® by reaching out to a Milestone expert today.
