Video surveillance: Cities and counties will spend more on this technology category

Local governments will increase their budgets in at least one technology in the coming year, says Kevin Taylor, area sales manager at Axis Communications, a producer of video surveillance equipment and other products. “We are optimistic about the growth of video-based Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in local government. We are at a nexus where the forces of technology advancements are meeting funding in critical infrastructure in a post-pandemic era.”

Taylor says cities and counties are evolving. “Local governments are transforming into organizations that value data-driven decision making, and today’s video technologies offer the opportunity to capture valuable data while also enabling real-time visual verification of events.” It’s a good time to work with the public sector marketplace, Taylor believes: “The local government segment presents Axis with an opportunity where our technologies and solutions bring us closer to our organization’s ultimate vision—to innovate for a smarter, safer world.”

The firm offers a variety of products, including network cameras and intercoms, wearables, access control systems, video recorders and workstations and video management software. Axis Communications works with governments, including cities, and offers tools and solutions that enable surveillance in public transport, stadiums, prisons, critical infrastructure, traffic and other applications.

Cities and counties rely on video surveillance systems in numerous applications, Taylor says. “In public spaces, the most common uses of video technology have been for situational awareness/overview, real time scene analysis during dispatch of emergency services, and license plate recognition to identify when a vehicle that is already of interest in an ongoing investigation enters a municipality.” He adds that there are also more traditional physical security use cases. These can include monitoring critical infrastructure, historical monuments and landmarks, and government facilities.

Municipal parks are yet another location where video surveillance technologies can serve a useful purpose, Taylor believes. The video monitoring and reconnaissance tools, he notes, can be used to detect unanticipated crowd gatherings, loitering and presence of intruders during hours when the parks are closed.

Other departments and stakeholders beyond public safety may see value in the data from video surveillance, Taylor explains. “Many cameras now offer deep learning and artificial intelligence (AI) resources natively built into the camera itself, effectively transforming the device from a camera and into an ‘optical sensor.’ This intelligence makes it possible for the sensor to classify objects such as pedestrians, busses, cargo trucks and passenger vehicles.”

He points out that counting these objects over time and delivering them as quantified values alongside the video stream is quite valuable. “Many stakeholders, including mayors, city managers, council members and department directors, are eager to have a data visualization of how people, products and vehicles move throughout their city’s public right of way. Modern video technologies offer a pathway to this data visualization.”

Taylor singles out this infrastructure-technology area of activity in local governments in 2023: “In terms of general administration, one of the most prevalent trends is the migration of all applications and software platforms to the cloud.” He says local government stakeholders at the departmental level continue to have a high level of interest in traffic management, public safety and emergency response.

To read the complete article, visit American City & County.