Page 58 - Security Today, March 2020

It Takes a Village
Atlanta chooses to deploy force multiplier to aid officers in protecting the city
By Kevin Taylor
oth the capital and the most populous city in the state, Atlanta, Georgia is home to nearly half a million people. It also contains the third largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the country and serves as the global headquarters
for corporations such as Coca-Cola, Home Depot, Delta Airlines and UPS. As the city’s population grew, it became apparent the Atlanta Police Department (APD) needed a force multiplier to assist its 2,000 officers in protecting Atlanta’s residents and busi- nesses while also creating a safer environment for the millions of tourists visiting the area.
In 2007, then Atlanta mayor, Shirley Franklin, was instrumen- tal in creating the Atlanta Police Foundation (APF), a private, nonprofit organization of business leaders, whose mission is to ensure that Atlanta is one of the safest large cities in America. One of APF’s first strategic programs was Operation Shield, which would become a canopy of integrated surveillance cameras that would monitor neighborhoods across the city. The 10,000+ cam- era network enables the Atlanta Police Department—through its partnership with APF and private sector businesses—to maintain real-time surveillance across much of the city, helping to reduce crime and enhance emergency preparedness.
Creating a 360-degree View
As the city began strategically deploying surveillance cameras throughout Atlanta, APF invested $350,000 to create the cutting- edge Loudermilk Operation Shield Video Integration Center (VIC). The VIC integrates video feeds from nearly 10,400 publicly- and privately-owned surveillance cameras to give the police depart- ment greater coverage of city streets. The VIC boasts a mosaic of video screens monitored by police officers across three shifts.
“The VIC gives APD the ability to have eyes across the city and pull video from participating stakeholders without having to own all the resources ourselves,” said Senior Police Officer Thomas R. Sutton on the Operation Shield team. “By connecting with other entities that already have camera systems in place, we save the city a huge investment in equipment and ongoing maintenance.”
While APF has no control of what camera systems other entities deploy, most of the 400 cameras owned and operated by the city are HDTV-resolution AXIS Q60 Series PTZ Network Cameras.
“With the PTZs we get excellent coverage with some models giving us full 360-degree views of the vicinity,” Sutton said.
Most city cameras are installed at intersections and street poles. “Given that the places we deploy them don’t necessarily have the best lighting, or they have changing lighting conditions, AXIS
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