BROADBAND COMMUNITIES is the leading source of information on digital and broadband technologies for buildings and communities. Our editorial aims to accelerate the deployment of Fiber-To-The-Home and Fiber-To-The-Premises.
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WHY WE NEED MORE FIBER Fiber-Connected Police Cameras Help Reduce Chicago Crime Chicago's 176-mile fber network connects police stations with 22,000 cameras used daily to support police missions and 911 operators. By Joan Engebretson / Broadband Communities O perators who answer 911 calls in Chicago have an unusual – perhaps unique – capability. When a call comes in, an operator can view live video from the police camera closest to where the call originated. An interactive map shows camera locations, and the operator can click on the appropriate camera to bring up video and gain control of the camera. Operators have used this capability to observe burglary, battery and narcotics-related crimes in progress and have been able to get descriptions of suspects, identify the total number of individuals involved or get information about victims. If a caller has captured smartphone video related to the call, the operator can send the caller a special SMS message to which the caller can reply, sending the video to the operator. A critical enabler of these capabilities is a 176-mile fber network throughout the city that connects all Chicago police stations with one another and with 22,000 cameras located throughout the city. Some cameras are directly connected to the fber network, and others are connected through highspeed wireless mesh technology that uses the fber network for backhaul. Tough some cameras belong to other city departments, including the park district, the school district and the aviation department, the police can use all of them. Many of the cameras are high-resolution devices capable of capturing images suitable for use as evidence in trials. "Te better the image, the more likely you would be able to identify a suspect or read a license plate," observes Jonathan Lewin, commander of the Chicago Police Department's information services division. A high-defnition camera requires about 1 Mbps of bandwidth to stream live video. Considering the number of cameras involved and the need to sometimes view multiple camera feeds simultaneously, fber is key. PROACTIvE MISSIONS Chicago's police cameras support what Lewin calls "everyday proactive missions." Police select areas of focus, which might include high-crime areas or locations where key events, such as an annual air show, are taking place. Tose missions "may lead to an arrest or [to] the dispersal of a crowd when a dangerous condition exists," explains Lewin. 10 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | Chicago's police camera initiative started with 30 cameras in 2003 – and since February 2006, when the city began tracking this information, cameras have played a role in 6,500 arrests out of 200,000 or so arrests made every year in the city. Te roles cameras might play include helping to identify suspects, corroborating facts and identifying witnesses, Lewin says. Data about the role of cameras in an arrest is collected through an electronic form that ofcers complete and is fed into the CLEAR (Citizen and Law Enforcement Reporting) system. Fiber underpins the CLEAR system, which enables police ofcers to quickly and easily obtain arrest records and mug shots. Te system also supports a state requirement for electronic recording of homicide interrogations. All remote police facilities are equipped to make those recordings, which are transmitted over the fber optic network to a storage location. A 2011 Urban Institute study compared the impact of Chicago's police cameras in two high-crime neighborhoods several years earlier. Tough West Garfeld Park had no decrease in crime, in Humboldt Park, crime dropped 20 percent after the cameras were installed and has remained at the lower level for years with no evidence that the crime moved elsewhere, the researchers said. According to the Urban Institute report, crimes prevented in Humboldt Park saved the city $4.30 for every $1.00 spent on the camera systems in both study areas. Another study suggests Chicago's police cameras may be more efective in high-crime areas than in low-crime areas. "One reason crime goes down more in high-crime areas is that police devote more resources there," observes Rajiv Shah, the study author and a professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago. "Cameras are one of an assortment of tools the police will put there." Chicago's police cameras are well marked to serve as deterrents. Shah hypothesizes that cameras in lower-crime areas may be less efective because criminals may recognize that those cameras are watched less closely. v Joan Engebretson is a Chicago-based freelancer who has been writing about the telecom industry since 1993. She can be reached at joanengebretson@cs.com. www.broadbandcommunities.com | July 2013