Puerto Rico’s second largest city deploys wireless mesh network
Bayamón, Puerto Rico’s second largest city, today announced that it recently added a 15-camera wireless mesh network to support a video-surveillance system that has supported 94 criminal convictions.
The wireless system from Firetide replaced a fiber-optic cable, so the municipality’s video data could be transmitted to mobile computers in first-responders vehicles, as well as to the command and control center, said Hector Sanchez, head of business development for system integrator Bonneville Construction.
The three-year urban renewal program was recently expanded to remote parts of the city, Sanchez said. The data-only network supports digital cameras. Fifteen new cameras were installed that use both fiber and Firetide wireless mesh nodes. All video feeds are received by a central operations center running software by Verint, while stations are manned by civilian monitors overseen by state police.
Sanchez said the system has led to considerable cost savings for police, court and prison systems in Puerto Rico. Most of Bayamon’s 94 cases went to trial and the evidence-grade surveillance video helped the public prosecutor get convictions. In addition, a growing number of cases have not gone to trial, because the accused admits to the crime after seeing video evidence, he said.
The entire project—the mesh network, infrastructure and operations center—cost $2.6 million, Sanchez said.
