Old City, New Public Safety Strategies
City of Dubuque links public safety and traffic management camera networks to resolve crimes and reduce roadway congestion. The city's nearly 1400 Axis multisensor, PTZ, panoramic, and license plate cameras help create safer streets and parks.
Situated on the bluff along the Mississippi River at the junction of Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin, Dubuque, Iowa is a city rich in history, arts and culture, and recreation. As Iowa’s oldest city, Dubuque has reinvented itself over the years from a mining, timber, and shipbuilding center to the hub for tourism, technology, and publishing that it is today. Along with this transition came the typical public safety and traffic management challenges one finds in most urban centers.
A Tale of Converging Solutions
The city turned to their longtime partner RACOM, a systems integrator specializing in public safety communication, to build out technology for critical 9-1-1 service, including a two-way radio system and a microwave Ethernet canopy to operate in areas where cabling wasn’t feasible.
When vandals defaced a sculpture displayed in Art on the River, an open-air art gallery along Mississippi Riverwalk, RACOM was called in to install a handful of Axis video cameras to monitor the area. “The cameras proved so helpful that the city started funding additional cameras to remotely monitor other properties from the port and marina to city-owned parking garages, rail yards, city parks and the business district,” explains Ken Fleege, National Service Manager for RACOM.
At the same time, the traffic department was developing a separate network of traffic cameras to address roadway safety concerns. “Our first efforts in building an actuated traffic signal system was pretty advanced for its time, but it had a fair number of problems detecting vehicles, especially in inclement weather like snow and fog,” shared Dave Ness, Technical Civil Engineer for the City of Dubuque. “Furthermore, the cameras only detected traffic patterns and changed signals. They didn’t record anything. It was a lost opportunity.”
Several capital improvements later, today the city’s traffic management system employs a combination of radar and Axis camera technologies for robust vehicle detection and signal control. The cameras record intersection traffic from multiple angles, providing police with an accurate account of collisions and other accidents on the roadways.
When both public safety and traffic decided to migrate to Milestone’s XProtect Video Management Software (VMS) simultaneously, the two departments realized that running siloed video networks was adding unnecessary complexity to citywide security operations.
“We have over 2500 Axis cameras deployed throughout the city now when you include the other local governmental entities using Axis,” states Dave Ness. “Connecting our separate video networks from all the government entities through Milestone’s Interconnect gives authorized users a way to view cameras across networks from a single log on. That’s especially critical for dispatchers responding to 9-1-1 calls.”
Every Which Way but Up
Dubuque’s traffic management system goes far beyond pointing cameras at traffic queuing up at an intersection. ‘Typically we install four AXIS Q16 Box Camera Series devices to capture the four directions of traffic as well as the traffic signals,” says Ness. “If there’s good long-distance visibility, we’ll add another four Q16s with telephoto lenses looking half a mile or more down the roadway to capture license plates and other details.”
Deploying Axis cameras with telephoto lenses saves the need for putting cameras on every block throughout the city. “It’s a really efficient way to get maximum coverage of our city streets while minimizing our investment in hardware and all the associated maintenance costs,” claims Ness.
Depending on the available sight lines at a traffic signal, his team might also install an AXIS Q63 PTZ Camera Series camera for additional coverage or even mount an AXIS P38 Panoramic Camera Series device some 35 feet high to capture the entire intersection and all the approaches in a single field of view.
“Because we capture so many angles, both the police and insurance companies rely on traffic video to review accidents and determine who was at fault,” shares Ness.
Because our citizens are seeing how the Axis cameras are making a positive difference on a daily basis, they often ask us, ‘When can you put cameras in our neighborhood?
Reducing Crime and Closing Cases
Dubuque’s local paper, the Telegraph Herald, often mentions when the Axis public safety and the traffic safety cameras have helped police apprehend a suspect or solve a crime, which helps build public trust in the network of cameras deployed throughout the city.
“Our cameras are both a deterrent to bad actors and great investigative tools for police,” says Ness. “They capture a wealth of real time details about an incident – including license plates and other specifics about vehicles fleeing the scene. Having a comprehensive camera network means police can quickly track a suspect’s movements across town, get a warrant to search their end location, and make an arrest.”
In the years since Axis cameras were first installed in 2015, the city has experienced a 29% reduction in overall crime. In 2023 alone, the cameras helped the police department resolve 77% of the city’s crimes committed against persons.
“Because our citizens are seeing how these cameras are making a positive difference on a daily basis, they often ask us, ‘When can you put cameras in our neighborhood?’” discloses Ness.
Improving 9-1-1 Call Handling
RACOM is currently working with the city to link the 9-1-1 call system with the multiple Axis camera networks to expedite emergency response. “When a call comes into the dispatch center for service, the dispatcher will enter the call into their CAD system which will include the location of the call,” explains Ken Fleege. “That location is sent to the Milestone VMS which creates a geofence around the cameras in that location and automatically pops them up on the dispatcher’s monitor.”
If the call comes in from a residential area where the city has no cameras, Milestone System's XProtect VMS will geofence cameras monitoring the nearest main access roads.
“Because the video is being communicated in real time, dispatchers can look at current traffic and direct ambulances and other first responders towards the fastest route to the scene,” says Fleege. “And sometimes, those minutes saved in travel time could save a life.”
The police also rely on the camera for a heads-up on scene safety issues – such as downed power lines and chemical spills – when responding to accidents. Oftentimes, the information gathered by the dispatchers can help police determine who is at fault before officers even arrive on scene.
Plans are already in place to eventually push out the video to officers in the field. But for now, the video can only be reviewed once they return to the station and write up their reports.
Improving City Operations
With the proliferation of Axis cameras throughout Dubuque, more city departments are finding uses for the information captured by the technology. For instance, the Parking Division reviews the video when motorists contest parking meter violations or being towed for parking in restricted or illegal spaces. Public Works monitors snowplowing and road treatment during winter storms to ensure the corridors are safe for travel. From public transit to public parks and recreation, road and bridge maintenance and watershed quality control, Fleege feels that the city’s network of cameras provide a plethora of information that can help departments discover ways they can enhance city life for residents, businesses, and visitors.
Favoring innovation and support
“In competitive testbeds, Axis cameras continue to win out with features like Lightfinder and Zipstream,” states Ken Fleege. “But it’s also the people behind the scenes that make the case for continuing this nearly two-decade partnership.”
Fleege mentions Axis design engineers coming from corporate headquarters in Sweden on multiple occasions to better understand how Dubuque is using their cameras. “Axis respects our opinions and has even incorporated some of our suggestions in their next releases,” says Fleege. “Moreover, if we’re struggling with a problem, they’ll bring the right people from Axis to quickly solve it.”
Future Plans for Inter-Connectivity
Though Dubuque continues to maintain four separate networks for traffic, public safety, county operations and the school district, Fleege says the plan is to eventually link all four through Milestone’s Interconnect. Users will still retain local control over their own network of Axis cameras for daily use. But when events happen, authorized parties will have easy access to all the pertinent livestreams and archived video allowing for greater situational awareness and shorter investigative timelines no matter on which network(s) the cameras reside.
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