Video surveillance system in Myslenice

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The murder of the owner of exchange office and his son, committed a year ago, shocked the residents of Myslenice, a town situated 30 km from Krakow. Several days after the assault they organized Silent March to protest against violence and these tragic, unnecessary deaths. The major of the town set a 100,000 PLN (ca 28,000 EUR) reward for the help in catching the murderer/s. Thanks to the initiative of other owners of currency exchanges and some inhabitants, the total sum amounted to 175,000 PLN. The decision about building a monitoring system was made after the police had caught the perpetrators and decided not to accept the reward. The money was used to fund part of the costs of the system.

On January the 19th, 2008, at twelve noon, there was official opening and presentation of Video Monitoring Center in the Police Headquarters in Myslenice. The ribbon was cut by Tomasz Burkat, the chief of the Municipal Police, Zbigniew Filiczak, the chief of the town Police, Andrzej Rokita, the chief of the provincial Police headquarters in Krakow, Maciej Ostrowski, the mayor of Myslenice, and General Tadeusz Budzik, Chief of Police.

The structure of the monitoring system.

The city monitoring system has been based on modern IP technology. In the town there have been installed 14 cameras connected wirelessly via access points that work in 5 GHz band. A special wireless trunk has connected the municipal police department and the police headquarters, to ensure adequate number of observation posts. The trunk collects the data from the cameras deployed in multiple locations around the town.

IP technology gives freedom of deployment of cameras and does not impose the burden of installing new cable lines. Despite long distances between the outermost locations, the transmission delays do not exceed ten milliseconds. It enables the operator/s to control the PTZ cameras without perceptible lag. IP technology can ensure high quality of transmitted video and full control over the cameras. In the building of the Municipal Police there has been installed dedicated server of 4 TB capacity, which is sufficient for recordings from 21 days. The system is protected by data encryption and access passwords. All the antennas work in point-to-point configuration, which also minimizes interference to the system.

Diagram of the monitoring system in Myslenice

Legend:
MP - Municipal Police
RP - Relay Point
CPS - Central Police Station

The equipment used

The system consists of ten high-speed PTZ cameras ACTi CAM- 6621 K1215, one day/night speed dome camera EyeView IPS-200 (MPEG-4), one day/night speed dome camera TPOWER-S2 (analog) M1222 with video server ACTi SED-2140T K2114, and two fixed day/night MPEG-4 IP cameras - ACTi CAM-5320 K1115. Due to day/night cameras the video surveillance system operates well even in low light.

The speed dome cameras from ACTI have many useful functions, such as powerful optical zoom (23x), digital zoom (12x) - possibility of identification of car license number from 70m, mechanically switched IR filter, very wide dynamic range (no problems with strong lights, reflections or sunshine).


IP Speed Dome Day/Night Camera: ACTi CAM-6621 K1215	Day/Night Speed Dome Camera TPOWER-S2 M1222	Video Server: ACTi SED-2140T K2114	MPEG-4 IP Camera: ACTI CAM-5320 (Day/Night) K1115

Some implementation problems

Due to lack of visibility between the Municipal Police and the Central Police Station it was impossible to create direct wireless link. The problem has been solved by designing special wireless trunk with relay point. Thanks to high capacity, the trunk will also help to develop the system in the future.

The monitored areas

The cameras have been placed in the market square and on main intersections. The operators observe people who behave strangely - to avoid possible incidents. The cameras should not disturb anyone who does not have bad intentions. The system will be further developed.

The Monitoring Center

The "main" monitoring center is situated in the Central Police Station. It has been equipped with three 22" LCD monitors. Two additional monitors are located in the duty-room of the police station, and in the office of the Municipal Police. All the three posts have access to all functions of the system.
The equipment used has the necessary certificates. The surveillance staff have been trained in Video Surveillance Academy in Municipal Police Headquarters in Krakow.

The benefits from the city monitoring system

The system enables the police to identify possible incidents or threats and to act quickly - due to known locations. The residents feel safer, and the acts of vandalism have become much rarer.
It is important that the operation areas have been reduced to the actual needs - thanks to implementation of privacy masking (no possibility of looking into the residents' windows). The system monitors public space, including entrances to shops, banks and institutions, but does not intrude into people's lives.

After completion of the tender for the system in November 2007, some residents of the town did not believe it could be finished in 2008.
Thanks to good cooperation of the investor, the police, and the installation company, it was possible to start up the system on 19th of January 2008. Myslenice has video surveillance system.

The installation has been done by Arndex company from Myslenice, the equipment has been provided by DIPOL from Krakow.

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