Playing it safe with cities

Feb. 14, 2017
The exploding smart and secured cities market has vendors like Genetec staking a claim

While the pace of the technology advancement continues its rapid evolution and network connectivity options are exploding, perhaps more than ever before, it is the clear definition of market segmentation that seems to drive current security solutions innovation. Market-specific and client-driven needs for advanced access control, video surveillance, intrusion detection and big data analytics are pushing vendors to think outside the box as they help build client technology roadmaps that are looking three, five and sometimes 10 years down the road.

One of these fast emerging sectors that is hard to ignore is the Smart & Secure Cities market. According to the Grand View Research firm, the global smart cities market size was valued at $567.45 billion in 2014, with security accounting for $77.19 billion. Exponentially increasing population and rapid urbanization coupled with continuous industrialization are key factors expected to positively affect this market. Smart cities are developed and designed to cater to a wide range of challenges including urban mobility, energy management, street lighting, water management, and public safety. The market is expected to register a rapid growth at an estimated CAGR of 13.6 percent through 2020.

Smart cities are developed using latest technologies including sensor networks, data analytics, cloud computing and wireless communications, which are all conducive to the development and implementation of advanced security and public safety solutions such as cybersecurity, video analytics, Video Surveillance Management software (VMS), Physical Security Information Management (PSIM), Public-Safety Answering Point (PSAP), Distributed Sensors Systems, Sensor and Data Fusion Algorithms, Software as a Service (SaaS), Social Media Emergency Response software, Geo-Design, advanced Information and Communications (ICT) technologies, Cloud-based Video Evidence technology,  Intelligent Lighting, and License Plate Reader technology.

With such a lucrative and growing market, it is not surprising that several of the security industry’s larger vendors are making a play in this space. Earlier this month I had the opportunity to visit with one of the leaders in the secured cities and public safety environment, meeting with Genetec executives at their Montreal headquarters. Genetec’s new mantra of “protecting the every day” is all about fostering a culture of partnerships, building on a foundation of advanced security solutions, business operations, and strategic intelligence.

“The future of security begins with our home base of security solutions. That is where Genetec is most known; technologies like access control, video surveillance and license plate recognition that keep our physical assets and people protected. But with that being said, it all hinges on the business operations. How can the security technology blend into operations to help you do business better? Things like intercoms and decision-support systems; the ability to manage plans and floor plans to see how your operation is behaving, looking at time and attendance and analyzing how people in your building are behaving. Operations are all about governance, compliance, and risk,” says Andrew Elvish, Vice President, Marketing and Product Management at Genetec. “The third part of this strategy is intelligence. Our application groups are very concerned about this intelligence stat. This is where you begin taking the security and operations and build insight into that data – things like retail data and intelligent traffic systems, helping airports function better and working to partner with our police forces to help bring actionable intelligence to them.”

Two of the most visible and dynamic aspects of Genetec’s Communities and Service initiatives are its Citywise program and its Clearance program – a new case management system that automates the storage and distribution of digital evidence.

Citywise was established to be a community builder for city and public safety administrators and management that will help broaden the discussion of safe, secure and smarter urban spaces. By bringing together the public and private sectors, Genetec hopes to help cities meet the challenges of today in creating a safe and secure environment for citizens, businesses and the overall community. Genetec presently boasts more than 900 agencies and municipalities worldwide that are partnering to address responsible city-wide surveillance implementations and unify traditionally disparate physical security technologies.

According to Elvish, the goal of the Citywise program is to:

  • Connect the many parts of a city’s security infrastructure
  •  Provide the tools to share and collaborate
  •  Develop insights from a vast array of sensors
  •  Enable greater community and business involvement in security

One of the most successful and unique examples of this public safety partnership initiative is Detroit’s Project Green. It is the first public-private-community partnership of its kind, blending a mix of real-time crime-fighting and community policing aimed at improving neighborhood safety, promoting the revitalization and growth of local businesses, and strengthening the Detroit Police Department’s efforts to deter, identify, and solve crime. 

The project is employing Genetec’s Stratocast cloud platform and is designed as a fast-response video surveillance system for smaller commercial businesses like gas stations and fast-food restaurants.  

The City of Detroit shared that its initial eight Project Green Light Detroit Partners all installed, and will maintain, a number of high-definition (1080p) indoor and outdoor cameras. The gas stations also all upgraded to high-speed network connections capable of allowing for consistent video streaming to DPD. Moreover, the stations also have agreed to provide adequate lighting on all parts of their properties — and to making other improvements as needed to ensure that their stations are customer-friendly, safe, and inviting. 

Each partnering business was fixed with greenlight beacons that were attached to the roofs of their buildings to signify they were participating in the program and that the police department had immediate access to the video feeds in these pilot facilities. The commercial businesses had no special devices to purchase other than their video cameras and a high-speed video feed. All transmission feeds were then streamed straight to the Cloud.

It was also recently announced that the city and Comcast have collaborated to help expand Project Greenlight. Previously partnering businesses had to shell out as much as $4,000 to $6,000 to install networked cameras, which kept many from signing up for the program. But Comcast has launched a new program where the cable and internet provider will charge only $1,000 to install cameras and other transmission equipment, while the businesses will pay a $140 a month service fee that will include 30 days of video storage for each camera. There are currently 52 Project Greenlight businesses in operation.

“This is a unique thing that Genetec does; connecting the various parts of a city’s infrastructure through a trust-based network. We are able to take these trust-based networks and help cities develop insights and better response to crime. It has also led to better community and business involvement,” says Elvish. “We launched this 3 ½ years ago meeting with mayors and city officials about Citywise and have really seen it gain traction in this last year or so. We are very proud of the work that is going on in Detroit with their Project Greenlight. It is built on our Stratocast platform and leverages that sharing mentality and builds upon those communities of trust between police and commercial operations like gas stations, laundry mats, and fast food restaurants. In just a few months in their pilot groups crime was down 50 percent.”

Elvish also admits that the recently released Clearance program is a perfect complement to their other public safety initiatives.  Clearance allows police officers, investigators, and security managers to gather digital evidence from a variety of sources (such as Genetec Security Center and other video management systems, body-worn devices, in-car systems and cellphone footage from bystanders and witnesses), and easily store, manage, review and share it from within a single application.

He adds that it enables collaboration across independent agencies and private sector organizations. All pertinent files related to cases (video files as well as audio, images, documents etc.) are centralized and can be securely shared between investigators or requested by 3rd parties, without needing to physically ship or deliver the recordings. As the application is not licensed per seat, access can be shared with as many users as needed, without incurring any additional fees. With built-in video redaction, the privacy of bystanders can be protected by allowing identifiable information to be masked before sending video to other stakeholders. All user actions initiated within the system, whether internal or external, are automatically tracked to ensure the chain of custody of the evidence is maintained at all times.

“With the growth of body-worn cameras, you wind up having data getting lost and going into silos. This expansion of new data sources become harder and hard to manage,” Elvish explains. “We take video from Milestone, Avigilon, Arecont -- no matter the vendor you have -- we can normalize through a very easy to use YouTube -style drag and drop. You just drop the file in and we can turn it into something that can be played. The original clip, however, will be maintained for the chain of custody; it will be time-stamped and watermarked. This helps organizations manage their evidence better as well as collaborate with all the major players from law enforcement to the district attorney. I like to refer to this solution as Sales Force.com for public safety.”

About the Author: Steve Lasky is a 30-year security industry veteran. He is the editorial and conference director for SouthComm Security Media Group, the largest security media platform in North America. It includes three monthly magazines – Security Dealer & Integrator, Security Technology Executive and Locksmith Ledger, along with the No. 1 security web portal in the industry – SecurityInfoWatch.com. You can reach him at [email protected].