Government

Video Surveillance System Aids New Orleans Recovery

By Allen Chan
Product Manager, Sony Electronics Inc.

Throughout Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, city officials and recovery workers throughout New Orleans have been privy to detailed video surveillance of the city streets thanks to a network of several hundred robotic Sony cameras that had been installed earlier in 2005 as part of a citywide technology support system for law enforcement and post 9/11 Homeland Security efforts.

The Big Easy's municipal IP-security system had been installed by New Orleans-based systems integrator and distributor Southern Electronics and an early assessment of the program revealed that crime and policing costs had both been significantly reduced. A plan to expand the initiative was already moving ahead.

According to New Orleans officials, the Sony RZ30N PTZ robotic network cameras had been specified for the assignment based on their advanced bandwidth management features that optimize network and camera control and image clarity. The system has the ability to flag suspicious behavior, then move in from wide-angle shots to take a closer look. The cameras' high-resolution digital imaging coupled with third-party solutions provide for license plate capture and facial recognition. Each unit was encased in vandal-resistant enclosures provided by Active Solutions of New Orleans, which included power conditioning and backhaul infrastructure. The units were mounted on top of utility poles that provided structural support and power and were connected to local servers by wireless links.

Then Hurricane Katrina hit and the system was put to a test that had never been envisioned by Southern Electronics nor the New Orleans officials responsible for its installation. Iggie Perrin, president of Southern Electronics explains: "Katrina took us into unknown territory, well beyond anything we had engineered for."

Sony's innovative pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras survived the 140 mile an hour winds and flood damage, and the vast majority of the units remained in operation as long as the utility poles remained intact, providing city emergency operations workers with detailed, real-time information as the waters receded and as the city slowly began its recovery efforts. Although waters swamped several police stations, which housed servers that were collecting video, the Sony cameras were still able to be operated remotely when accessed via the system's virtual private network - even when recording had stopped. In fact, a large number of cameras remained in continuous operation throughout the storm. Perrin reports, "We can now say from experience that the RZ30N cameras inside the Active Solutions enclosures are not only bullet-resistant, but also able to withstand a Category 5 storm."

Better than 80 percent of the IP security installation had been fully restored by late 2005 and Southern Electronics expects to have more than 100 additional cameras in place within 60 days "The financial squeeze on the city now is enormous, and that is helping to drive the investment in the IP security system," Perrin declares. "People are coming back, and this is the most effective way to provide a police presence with the resources available."

New Orleans Video Testimonial

When the Sony IP-security system was first introduced in New Orleans, Mayor Ray Nagin and Southern Electronics' Iggie Perrin were interviewed as part of an application video that can be accessed by clicking here.

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