We’ve been reading a lot lately about security surveillance systems police departments around the nation are implementing to fight and prevent crime. Overall, it seems like a great idea. While there are no specific studies available on the correlation between number of surveillance cameras and crime numbers, many of the districts implementing these systems have reported lower crime rates.
One would expect more police departments in the U.S. to begin building security networks through new and already established surveillance systems. However, there is one major setback most police departments have yet to acknowledge: bandwidth limits. That is, with so much media already being transferred daily – everything on the internet – the availability of virtual space is limited.
So, what do we do?
Follow London. London is the leader in surveillance technology, with over 400,000 cameras integrated into a large security network. That is, roughly, one camera for every 14 people. How do they stream it all without shutting the rest of the world down? That’s the key for surveillance focused crime fighters.
London has a separate bandwidth system for their surveillance. It’s all channeled through a completely different network, free from the ebb and flow of daily internet navigation. With this independence, London security officials have been track thousands of live surveillance feeds at once.
The Public Safety Spectrum Trust is beginning to think about a larger network that allows for this sort of constant flow of footage. They are pushing for a “nationwide broadband network that would operate on 700 MHz broadband spectrum currently allocated for public safety and hopefully to include the 700 MHz D-block spectrum, which will be designated for the exclusive use of police and fire agencies and other first responders.”
There are a lot of advocates in the US for public defense video surveillance systems. It’s really only a matter of time until an integrated government surveillance system is set up. In fact, it might be farther along than we know.