Freeport police install video-surveillance network

The Freeport, Texas, Police Department is in the process of installing video-surveillance cameras in a project with ADT Security Services and Motorola Solutions Inc. The project underscores how wireless technology can be used to increase security for the nation’s first responders.
Police Chief Ty Morrow said Freeport has a variety of potential dangers due to its coastal location and industries housed in the area. Freeport is the United States’ 16th largest business port and home to 29 of the world’s largest chemical companies. Plus, the city is close to Mexico, so the potential to smuggle illegal drugs into the country through Freeport is a problem. Initially, the cameras will be set up to monitor a public housing project and a marina.
Sam Sutherland, ADT’s regional account manager for state and local government, said the system will include a wireless mesh network to transmit video from IP-based cameras located throughout the city to be recorded in city hall and monitored 24/7 at police headquarters. The first phase of the five phase project moves us further into the 21st century, he said.
“We’re looking at prevention. The more eyes we have the smarter we can work,” Morrow said. “I’ve been in law enforcement for 30 years and in the last 10 years, we’ve had increased reliability on video and audio to validate our work.”
Scott French from Motorola noted that it allows the police to become more proactive and less reactive especially at a time when they are seeing tight budgets for personnel. Not only will video enable responders to respond with greater intelligence, they will be safer going into tense situations, added Motorola’s Ralph Bell.
Funding for the five-phase project is coming from federal grants, the Freeport Economic Development Corp., Port Freeport, the local port authority, and the city’s major petrochemical companies. Eventually the surveillance system will be able to include automotive license lookups and other applications that can ride over network.