SPECIAL REPORT Cloud-Based Law Enforcement Applications
A mainstream example of how cloud will permeate law enforcement applications stems from the U.S. government’s announcement last year of a $75 million program over the next three years for wearable cameras for police officers. Sparked by the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., last year, which continues to draw worldwide at- tention, the spending aims to minimize disputes between police officers and citizens, while ensuring greater safety and accountability.
While camera costs are one consideration for law enforce- ment agencies, how will this new initiative impact their storage requirements? Streaming and storing video from thousands of body-wearable cameras on police officers will tip the scale of what may be considered manageable for agencies and their on-premises infrastructures. Cloud services will enable such applications, simplifying imple- mentation and minimizing the costs of managing the mass amounts of video archives produced.
Hybrid Cloud Archiving Applications Using “hybridization,” law enforcement can easily extend their storage requirements without the hassle and time needed for purchasing, installing and maintaining local servers. Cloud offers greater flexibility to accommodate special events or applications that might require more stor- age than currently available, providing law enforcement departments with the ability to quickly scale storage up or down, as needs demand. Here are a few other hybrid cloud archiving applications that help law enforcement agencies minimize storage costs.
Cost-Efficiently Keep Video for Longer Periods – Federal leg- islation is demanding video be kept for longer periods of time. Police departments can use the cloud to host long- term video and data archives, while keeping 30 days’ worth of recording at on-premises servers. This frees up local rack space for other applications or needs. Enable Long-Term Evidence Protection – Open investiga- tions and prosecution can span years, so protecting valu- able video evidence is critical for law enforcement. The cloud offers an easy and affordable option for safeguard- ing video evidence, while also ensuring the proper chain of custody. With the use of strict authentication and privacy features, only those who have authority are able to access, view or export the files.
Ensure Video Evidence is Backed Up – Infrastructure hard- ware failures are inevitable, but sometimes waiting for IT to rebuild a drive after hardware failure is not a luxury police officers have during an investigation. Using the cloud as a back-up for video evidence stored on premises ensures that no matter what happens to hardware, officers can always access video when they need it most.
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Exploring More Cloud-Based Applications
With the number of cameras climbing in metropolitan hubs, video surveillance applications are the most con- ducive for the cloud. However, there are numerous other cloud services that can benefit agencies. For instance, au- tomatic license-plate recognition (ALPR) systems are often used by law enforcement to automatically detect wanted vehicles. ALPR cameras are installed on police cruis- ers and roadways to automatically alert officers to sto- len vehicles, wanted individuals, and more, prompting immediate apprehension.
Cloud services offered by Genetec, a worldwide leader in IP security solutions, encompass ALPR applications for law enforcement. AutoVu Managed Services allows law en- forcement agencies to focus on their mission and not the in- frastructure, offering a cost-effective turn-key deployment where the AutoVu ALPR system is hosted on the Micro- soft’s Azure cloud platform. Experienced Genetec techni- cians also configure the ALPR system ahead of deployment, setting up user accounts and license plate lists, completely unburdening IT resources.
Another application offered by Genetec is an interro- gation room recording management application. It is a ready-to-go, cloud-based application that allows officers to simply swipe an access control card to a reader to activate the video and audio recording of an interrogation. All in- terrogations are bookmarked with the time, date, and cre- dential information of when the recording was captured so officers can subsequently find their recordings within the unified security platform, Security Center.
Time to Move to the Cloud Is Now With more federal spending on wearable technologies on the horizon and a greater need for law enforcement agen- cies to maximize investments in new or existing technolo- gies, cloud services are an inevitable solution for police departments. This is not to suggest that on-premises servers will cease to exist.
Instead, the cloud can be used as a hybrid model to ex- pand systems or extend storage as per evolving demands, while minimizing the financial and resource-constraining impact of growing and maintaining a private data center with on-site physical servers. The time for the cloud is now; is your agency ready to capitalize on this trend?
Christian Morin is the Vice President of Cloud Services at Genetec. LaO Post your comments on this story by visiting
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