Upon reading the article below, take a moment to think about the safety within a correctional facility. Based on this information given, one would think that safety would be a much easier thing to manage these days, since prisoners know that they are, or can be, constantly surveilled. However, we know that danger for officers within a correctional facility can be lurking around every corner.
Based on the article, imagine a correctional officer on duty in a cell block alone for any amount of time during a shift change. In addition, he or she was weary from not only working overtime this week, but being up most of the night before with a sick child. Identify at least three possible issues regarding officer safety that exist within this scenario. Apply possible solutions for these problems or observations based on what you have learned throughout this course so far.
Your response must be at least two pages in length, double spaced, and 12-point Times New Roman font. All sources used, including the textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying APA citations.
ARTICLE:
In the case of a disturbance or a riot, digital IP video surveillance offers streaming on the go, sharper image definition, and higher capacity network storage.
The present time, video security systems put into place in facilities even 10 years ago are routinely aging. The analog systems that served their time can be replaced without difficulty and in stages to limit bulk costs. The advantages to new systems are numerous and include important features such as increased clarity and minimized storage. Options that provide further advantages exist in portable video units for hard-to-reach or one-time use incidents, as well as wearable units that provide another layer of personnel safety and security.
Converting a facility from analog to digital video capabilities can be easily managed, according to David Raske, director of Marketing and Business Development, Video Surveillance.com. "The process of installing and setting up an IP (internet protocol) video surveillance systems is easy. Many IP cameras are designed to use a normal Ethernet cord to provide both power and network access for sending and receiving data, making the installation easier than older analog cameras," he says. And "because the system partscameras, NVR, video management software-are all connected through your private network, you can quickly connect to and monitor the system."
Raske explains how the transition from analog to digital IP video surveillance can be done over time, making the transition easy to manage and affordable. "Using special hybrid NVRs designed to handle both analog and IP cameras, or video encoders, you can replace older analog cameras as needed or install new IP cameras without replacing all your old equipment at once. This allows the facility to use equipment that is still working, and integrate the new equipment during their normal expansion into new buildings or rooms."
IP Video Yields Advanced Features
As for the advantages, Raske says, "IP video surveillance systems give you access to the most advanced camera features and extreme flexibility in growing the system as your security needs change. IP cameras and management software is available with a variety of features including facial recognition, motion activation and tracking, and remote access and management," he notes. "IP cameras are also available with high definition resolution and megapixel resolution, allowing you to record clear video even when there is a lot of action or movement happening. Because IP camera systems use your network to connect and send data, you can easily install a new camera and connect it to your system without the need for complicated and expensive electrical work."
Many correctional facilities are still equipped with analog video cameras, concurs Sharon Lewis, creative director and web master, Black Creek Integrated Systems. "Configurable to each specific facility, we have upgraded existing analog systems to digital. We have accomplished this through either converting the existing analog signal to digital, replacing the analog cameras with new digital models, or through a combination of the two methods. Digital conversion gives the facility the ability to record footage on network video recorders and provides them with the ability to manage that data over their network."
The difficulty transitioning from analog is negligible when compared to the benefits of going digital, Lewis contends. She explains that Black Creek replaces the analog cable with CAT6 digital cabling or routes the existing analog cable into head-end equipment to achieve video digitization. The flexibility of keeping existing analog cameras along with adding newer digital models can provide cost savings, she adds. "While this hybrid solution will not provide an increase in image quality in regard to analog cameras, it will afford correctional facilities the benefits of digital technology."
Streaming Freely
In addition to being able store footage on NVRs and manage video information over the network, digitization of video removes constraints associated with analog video systems, says Lewis. For instance, digital footage can be streamed across the network to any workstation anywhere in the facility-it is not tethered to any particular workstation. "Something particularly exciting that we are offering to correctional facilities is the ability to stream that footage to mobile devices. The Black Creek Personal Detention Assistant (PDA) and iPad App allows officers to view real-time CCTV footage from any camera, anywhere in the detention center. As you might imagine, this provides unparalleled security that could not be realized without digital technology."
Concerning the physical aspect of the conversion process, Lewis explains digital video technology uses CAT6 cabling-there is no separate power cable needed because the power and video are relayed through a single cable with the use of a power over Ethernet (POE) switch. And due to its physical size, Lewis says a final advantage to digital video technology is the compact, spacesaving design of the network video recorders.
"An NVR recorder can process at least 16 times more than the traditional analog recorders in a much smaller space," she says. Though the technology is relatively new to the corrections industry it is quickly becoming popular due in part to the HD cameras' enhanced picture quality, Lewis notes, and when paired with the recording capabilities of network recorders, a facility can record high-definition video footage and store that information for a longer period of time.
In a recent installation in El Dorado, Kan., Traci Hall, marketing communications specialist, Honeywell Security Products America, relays the process and feedback as Butler County transitioned the Adult Detention Facility and related facilities to a digital system. At the county's 230-bed detention facility, 4PC, an IP security specialist based in Augusta, Kan., replaced 48 analog cameras with 96 1080p equIP series cameras and three pan tilt zoom (PTZ) cameras, doubling the facility's monitoring capabilities. 4PC also installed three MAXPRO NVRs to store video being captured by the cameras. The cameras are controlled electronically through computer consoles and Honeywell's UltraKey Plus keyboard using the Honeywell MAXPRO video management system (VMS). "The analog cameras the Sheriff's Office previously used were obsolete compared to today's modern IP cameras," says Coby Hayes, CEO at 4PC. "IP cameras today have a resolution that's five to six times better than analog." And the digital storage gives the ability to pull up video footage quickly and remotely, if needed.
For personnel at the Kansas detention facility, the enhanced video clarity and monitoring is having a significant impact on safety. When an incident such as a fight occurs within the facility it can escalate quickly, requiring an immediate response, says Butler County Sheriff Kelly Herzet. Taking advantage of the added situational awareness the cameras provide, personnel are able to quickly assess an incident, identify any potential dangers and respond to the scene with a game plan. "Previously, we identified people in the footage from the color of their clothes and physical mannerisms," says Herzet. "Now with the new highdefinition cameras we can see faces clearly and zoom in on objects so finely as to read handwritten words on a piece of paper."
4PC also configured four Apple iPad devices for the sheriff, undersheriff, and shift supervisors at the Butler County Adult Detention Facility and Judicial Center to access the video surveillance system remotely. "Equipping our shift supervisors with iPads gave them the flexibility to be away from their desk and interact with deputies working in the field," says Herzet. "The iPads are set up to access the video surveillance systems at both facilities and can be used anywhere there's wi-fi access."
As apparent in the hand-held devices, video security is not confined to wall space any longer. Portable camera units increase safety by allowing views in inaccessible locations, as well as in hidden places. "Portable surveillance and inspection tools using uniquely-configured video cameras can expand the real time situational awareness capabilities in a correctional institution as well as increase the capability, efficiency and safety of performing random inspections in both cells and common areas," points out Bob Levine, president, Zistos Corporation.
Rapidly deployable, wireless surveillance cameras can be used in a correctional facility to help boost security and deal with prisoner insurrections, explains Levine. Its Portable Network Surveillance Camera (PNSC) is a self-contained, battery-operated wireless video network camera with remote pan/tilt/zoom capability. "The PNSC can be used to dynamically increase visual awareness using encrypted wireless video that can tie into an existing network or create its own standalone network. Multiple units can be tied together to offer a multi-point video system that can be positioned anywhere," he says and adds, "The system has value because it can be used to bolster security in problem areas where increased surveillance may be difficult to accomplish using existing fixed video surveillance assets." The PNSC can also be deployed to increase situational awareness by transmitting video to a command location from an outer perimeter during a riot. As a tactical surveillance tool they can visually determine potential threats, prisoner positions and conditions in areas prior to insertion of a S.E.R.T. team.
Video-based search tools facilitate looking into areas that are not easily accessible, or difficult to see, increasing the efficiency, effectiveness and safety of search operations, says Levine, and thus the security of the facility. "The use of portable video search tools can expedite and improve the quality of a facility search operation. Contraband and weapons are typically hidden in areas that would be difficult or unpleasant to access using standard means. Using a battery-operated video camera and body-worn video display can facilitate a close up inspection of areas that are normally difficult to access or see visually." Levine adds that cameras mounted on poles can reach high ledges or peer into openings and hidden areas around lighting fixtures. Cameras mounted on rolling trolleys can be used to quickly search underneath tables, chairs sinks and bunks. Waterproof cameras can be inserted into toilets and other plumbing fixtures to inspect the trap and other areas for contraband and weapons. Small diameter videoscopes can grant visual access into void spaces behind walls and under floors. "These tools can be applied to quickly facilitate and document thorough searches in many internal areas of a correctional facility in a safe and effective manner," Levine says.
Video search tools can also aid correctional staff to screen vehicles entering and leaving a facility. These camera systems quickly and safely look into passenger and cargo areas of cars and trucks in an effort to look for contraband, weapons and prisoner escape attempts, says Levine. All of these camera inspections can be recorded and archived to validate that procedures were followed and also potentially for use as evidence, if an attempt is uncovered. Portable video systems, which typically contain an array of interchangeable video inspection components, are optimized to perform a search task in a specific condition or environment. To that end, Zistos offers a Vehicle Search System that contains all of the necessary video tools to search a passenger or commercial vehicle, thus allowing personnel to conduct a greater number of searches more thoroughly, says Levine, tightening the security of the facility once more. O
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"IP cameras and management software is available with a variety of features including facial recognition, motion activation and tracking, and remote access and management."