Posted by Dave Fowler on Wed, Nov 12, 2008 @ 08:50 AM
I've never felt safer than I did this week as I attended the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP)conference.
Among the myriad of guns, uniforms, badges and mobile command vehicles were a number of really interesting technologies that are being used to enable law enforcement professionals to respond to emergencies faster and safer (which of course keeps us safer too). Cool technologies like ShotSpotter (gun shot detection), in-car information and video systems, multiple video streams pumped to an iPhone (by Lextech ) allowing first responders to control a camera with just a touch of their finger, or camera based video analytics that can tell a person from an animal at over a quarter mile away (day or night) are helping departments get earlier information on evolving situations. In addition high speed networks and cross agency communications systems coupled with automated mass notification systems like At Hoc provide faster ways to respond to situations.
Let's face it...the more information we can get to an officer as he goes into a situation the faster, more effectively and safer he can handle the situation. But there is a point of information overload and it's less about pushing data and more about digesting it to provide REAL TIME INTELLIGENCE that can be pinpointed to the needs of each officer or first responder. Knowing there is a suspect in the bushes with a gun may be information that is fatally late 10 seconds from now.
To me these were the coolest products and demonstrations. Tying together all kinds of sensor info or human input, analyzing it to determine what was happening, mapping it, displaying appropriate cameras, and in seconds automatically dispatching targeted assistance, notifying the appropriate first responders and agencies and coordination their activities. In an industry notorious for no standards and isolated systems, Cisco's booth was an oasis of interconnected systems from 15 different vendors. Not just connected but through Command Center products from Intergraph and VidSys they were actually interacting to demonstrate how they work together to address real emergency scenarios.
IACP...meet PSIM. You now have a new weapon and life will never be the same.