Broome County trusts Axis for modernized surveillance.
Broome County, NY deploys IP video surveillance to secure emergency radio towers, nursing homes, other essential services.
Better equipment calls for better security
Broome County spans a beautiful part of New York’s Southern Tier region, with roughly 200,000 residents spread across more than 700 square miles. Maintaining efficient and effective emergency services across such a relatively rural area can be a challenge which is what prompted a massive upgrade to its emergency communications systems throughout the region. Nine radio towers received site expansions, equipment upgrades, and additional communications assets. Although these sites had not traditionally been a target for vandals, a number of incidents in public parks prompted officials to consider whether greater security was now warranted.
The county brought in Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials to conduct an audit of the tower sites, and they identified a number of areas in need of improvement. One identified need was to upgrade the aging, analog cameras currently being used for on-site surveillance. DHS also recommended upgrading to a more streamlined, easy-to-use IP camera system. Integrated Systems, an Axis-authorized systems integrator often used by Broome and other neighboring counties, recommended exploring Axis Communications solutions, and county officials quickly found a number of products and solutions that fit their specific needs.
A highly tailored surveillance solution
The county’s primary goal was to improve surveillance to protect against vandals or trespassers. The solution required both an “eye in the sky,” capable of seeing down the long driveways leading up to the towers, and technology to detect movement on the ground. To this end, not only were network cameras necessary, but several other complementary devices as well. To protect the perimeter of each property, security radars were deployed, capable of detecting movement and alerting emergency services. These security radars were customized to only raise an alert if movement was detected within five feet of the property perimeter.
“In the past, a false alarm at a remote tower could result in a lot of wasted resources and manhours because we would have to send someone out to investigate,” says Karen Andrews, the county’s assistant director of information services. “Now false alarms are much rarer, and the ones that slip through the cracks can be remotely verified, or dismissed if it turns out to be a deer or a technician who forgot to call ahead.”
PTZ cameras were also installed at each location and programmed to automatically pan, tilt, and zoom in on any movement flagged by the security radars. Once alerted to a potential trespasser, the system begins to record the activity and an emergency technician can view the live feed to determine whether it is necessary to deploy law enforcement or other personnel. Because officials knew that casting too wide a detection net would result in countless false alarms due to the rural locations of the tower sites, Axis was able to provide a more tailored approach to meet the specific needs and peculiarities of the tower sites.
Expanding beyond radio towers
Although Broome County originally sought to secure its emergency radio towers, it quickly became apparent that the solution could have potential benefits in other areas. Today, additional Axis products are deployed in the county’s nursing home to help ensure the protection of its residents.
Because of their highly sensitive nature, all complaints registered within a nursing home must be investigated, and the installation of 360-degree cameras in hallway intersections and public areas have helped save countless manhours by quickly confirming or disproving many allegations. They have also helped with the investigation of incidents including slip/trip/fall cases, which are often extremely costly for healthcare facilities.
Network cameras have also been deployed by the Broome County Sheriff’s Department, which uses them to record video in its interview rooms. Because a certain threshold of video and sound quality must be met in order for footage to be used in court, the sheriff’s department required cameras capable of meeting a high standard. Axis was able to provide the necessary high quality cameras, capable of quickly and easily being integrated into the county’s existing system. “We now have 200 cameras in 12 major locations throughout the county,” says Andrews. “One of the greatest benefits is that we have been able to keep adding devices so easily.”
Streamlining security through integration
Broome County chose the Ocularis VMS Platform by Qognify, an Axis Application Development Partner (ADP), to manage the feeds from the new cameras and enable the live look-ins that have proven so valuable. The platform provides video archiving, live viewing, activity notifications, and video analytics—a dramatic improvement over the on-site storage that most of the county’s older, analog cameras employed.
Security had previously been routed through nearly a dozen different individual security teams and offices, and county officials often had to physically travel to retrieve recorded footage from the source. The elimination of this physical and financial burden has represented a major return on investment for the county.
Previously, only the security department had access to the footage from the analog cameras, and it would take time for staff to go to specific locations around the county, retrieve the footage, and sort through it for the requestor. Now we give authorized users remote access to the cameras they are responsible for, and they can find their own footage. The requestor gets access to it faster, and security staff can do other meaningful work.
“To save money, the county decided to consolidate their needs and have one server in a county building,” explains Dave O’Hare, director of business development, Integrated Systems. “Now the county exclusively uses Axis cameras.”
“Previously, only the security department had access to the footage from the analog cameras,” adds Andrews. “It would take a lot of time for staff to go to specific locations around the county, retrieve the footage, and sort through it for the requestor. Now we give authorized users access to the cameras they are responsible for, and they can find their own footage. The requestor gets access to it faster, and the security staff can do other meaningful work.”
This centralization of security has had unexpected benefits, including the ability to integrate with individual towns. Because the city of Binghamton also uses Axis technology, the county’s emergency dispatch center is able to view live streams from the city’s surveillance cameras as well. As with the radio towers, this can often give emergency services personnel much-needed information about the situation on the ground.
