Wide Area Surveillance or IP Camera System - Different Strokes for Different Folks

The Center for Investigative Reporting recently revealed that the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department is trying out a type of surveillance, called Wide Area Surveillance to monitor Compton, an area where residents have to put up with a high incidence of crime.

In the interest of monitoring the city in real time, they are using several high-powered surveillance cameras affixed to the belly of a small civilian plane. As the plane flies over Compton, the cameras will streaming video  or as the CIR quipped, picture "a sort of a Google Earth with a rewind button and the ability to play back the movements of cars and people as they scurry about the city."

The idea is to keep the city in their sights at all times so that when a crime is reported, they can zoom in and monitor the situation, follow suspects,and gather whatever information they can to hand over to investigation teams on the ground.

So how do Wide Area Surveillance systems measure up to ground-based IP camera surveillance systems?

Wide Area Surveillance
WAS was able to carry out large scale airborne patrols, covering large swaths of the city providing  providing real time surveillance and supplying valuable leads to officers patrolling the streets, the cameras' fields of view left a lot to be desired. In one case, a necklace snatching on the street was reported, and the plane was able to capture the fleeing suspect's car on camera until...... the car drove out of camera range.

WAS can be of forensic value in that its stored video can be rewound to discover a perpetrator's starting point ,his route, where and with whom  he may have met up.

It can even be used internally to look into whether correct police procedures are being followed.
However when it comes to clarity and resolution,  the images the cameras produced are not of sufficient resolution to be stand up in court.

IP Camera Systems
Since they are ground-based cameras, they cannot cover the whole city at once,  but the images  the high-resolution IP security cameras do capture are of superior resolution to those of the airborne cameras. Furthermore, the digital cameras have the capacity to zoom in on faces or other identifying details, which the plane's cameras could not. As a result, police and district attorneys are able to submit them as identifying evidence in court.

In a Perfect  Surveillance World
In a world where municipalities had unlimited funds and access to all the latest technology, we might turn on the news and hear the following  account of how police managed to apprehend a suspect.

• A male suspect robs a bank. He is caught on IP camera video as he exits.
• A plane equipped with wide area surveillance cameras since it is always in "the right spot" is able to follow and film his fleeing car, a red Mazda, while keeping police up to date on his route of flight.
• But then, the robber drives into a municipal garage and manages to elude both airborne and on-the ground police.
• In reviewing the WAS video, the police discover he passed under a traffic camera, that since he was speeding, captured his license plate number, speed, date, and time.
• Thanks to License Plate Technology, police determine that the Mazda is registered to a certain B.C. McThief who lives at 7822 742 Street.
• Police go to 7822 742 street and seeing the Mazda parked in front,  stage a stake out, waiting for Mr McThief to emerge so they can see if he fits the image captured on the bank's IP security camera.
• He does.
• They take him into custody.

Kintronics doesn't specialize in WAS but they are the experts in IP technolgy. If you want information about IP camera systems, call Kintronics at 914-944-3425 and speak to a sales engineer, or if you prefer, fill out an information request form.