NICE Systems unveils video-analytics solution as timesaver for public safety
NICE Systems today announced a video-analytics solution called Suspect Search that is designed to let public-safety agencies quickly scan massive amounts of video and locate individuals, even when when the individual is part of a large group.
The application allows agencies to search for a specific individual by either using an existing photo or by creating a composite, or avatar, of that person, based on a physical description. The system can then search and track that person by scanning a network of cameras to generate a photo lineup of potential matches while tracking the person on a map.
“Now the cameras re-engage, based on the photo, and say, ‘We’ve got her. Camera 24.’ It populates data and it gives you almost a Google Map aerial view on your CAD or call-taking system,” Jenny Hansen, a partner manager with NICE Systems, said in an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications.
“It’s beyond point, tilt, zoom. It’s now point, tilt, zoom, track. Camera 24 finds you, tracks you and hands you off to a camera that’s nearby.”
Suspect Search also can aid forensic investigations following a crime by narrowing down video footage to only the relevant portions, according to a press release. Other uses could include finding a lost child or the owner of abandoned luggage.
Live demonstrations of the application will be conducted at NICE Systems’ booth at the ASIS International conference in Atlanta next week.
The patent for Suspect Search is still pending, but NICE Systems already has deployed the application internationally in proof-of-concept projects. Such uses include airports, mass transit and major sporting events, according to the press release.
Commercially available immediately, Suspect Search will be tested this year at the Texas A&M University Internet2 Technology Evaluation Center (ITEC) alongside several other applications in a simulated emergency situation involving first responders. This kind of field trial is invaluable to the development process, Hansen said.
“What they’re doing is now fully baking these applications that they have in their lab alongside our other technology partners, so we work from end to end, replicating a next-gen-type FirstNet command center,” Hansen said.