The role of ‘manageable intelligence’ in public safety

Many organizations have realized that physical security information management (PSIM) is the tie that binds. PSIM software accesses data from a variety of technology systems, such as intrusion detection, access control, video surveillance, and telematics, as well as public databases. With these insights, organizations can correlate and analyze the various data streams to empower safety organizations to handle diverse situations more effectively.

The software integrates the various data streams into manageable intelligence, in effect organizing, distilling and interpreting information, and then fusing it with mapping programs to provide location-specific support for security officials, police, fire/EMS personnel and other first responders. The data is then presented in a usable format to achieve efficiencies in compliance, operations and investigations. High-quality video, easily accessible and rapidly available, is a central element of PSIM systems.

Frost & Sullivan predicts that the worldwide PSIM market will grow from $80 million in 2009 to $544 million in 2015, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 37.6 percent. This expected growth reflects the ability of PSIM solutions to provide a more comprehensive and effective approach to gathering intelligence, managing security operations, optimizing emergency management, and improving safety and security.

Most PSIM software systems offer key capabilities such as:

• Collecting data from disparate security devices or systems, including real-time monitoring of target areas of interest.
• Analyzing data and correlating information from multiple platforms and sources to determine priorities.
• Verifying information and situations using multiple data streams, including video.
• Providing step-by-step resolution practices and policies to operators based on an organization's standard operating procedures (SOPs).
• Enhanced reporting capabilities related to compliance and investigative analysis.
• Audit tracking to monitor how each operator interacts with the system.
• Information sharing across multiple agencies and jurisdictions.
• Effective investigation and analysis capabilities to close cases.
• Future intelligence about possible threats based on trend analysis.

As PSIM platforms expand in their ability to integrate diverse sources of information—including access-control systems, fire detection, intrusion-detection systems, building-management systems, and more—the integration of IP-based video provides increasing value for post-incident investigation, real-time situational analysis and incident prevention.

IP-based video-surveillance systems provide clear, crisp images with higher resolutions than those available from analog systems. However, the real value of such systems is their ability to transform visual video into data, meaning that it can be easily incorporated and leveraged within a PSIM system.

When added to the data points of a PSIM system, video images add a “look” to the “feel” of physical security information. For example, alarms or other events can be coupled with high-resolution video views of nearby cameras to enable a PSIM operator to see clear images in real-time as an emergency event unfolds.

New advances include the ability to enhance streamed and shared video with the highest level of control and multi-dimensional graphing and mapping ability, to provide the end user with real-time locations and statuses, all displayed on a single video screen. Now, PSIM helps drive video intelligence—by filtering through hundreds, or even thousands, of available camera feeds—and provides actionable intelligence, which allows a more proactive and targeted response, even in the most challenging time constraints and environments. It’s more than simple integration — it’s the ability to have, at one’s fingertips, the tools, processes and plans to make video truly intelligent and responsive. 

If you look deeper into the video capabilities of a PSIM solution, a critical component is the ability to analyze the contents of a live scene. This capability enables a video management system (VMS) to provide an alert or trigger live video of an event based on what's currently happening in view of a camera.

Analyzing the content of a video image provides new proactive capabilities. Video-surveillance analytics can sense if a person crosses a virtual line, for example, or determine the size of a crowd. Video analytics can detect loitering or track a vehicle's movement, whether it crosses a line or stops short of a specific area. Video-based license-plate recognition can identify vehicles, and video also can analyze vehicle type and/or the country of origin. When combined with a PSIM system, expanded video capabilities can be used to prompt defined response actions based on standard operating protocols. Checklists clearly define needed responses, and operators respond consistently and effectively, whatever their skill level.

Moreover, integration with geographic information systems (GIS) provides the exact location of any activity. Together, video and location awareness enable more efficient handling of incidents and investigations.