Approximately 50 participants attended the annual VQIPS public safety video workshop on June 17-18, in Newark, New Jersey.  Sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology Directorate (DHS S&T), the agenda included a wide range of topics involving all aspects of public safety video use, including fixed video systems, portable/deployable video units and body camera units.  FirstNet, the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST), and the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) all presented at the workshop.

VQiPS stands for “Video Quality in Public Safety.” The advisory group focuses on “all things video,” including policy issues; case studies; technology; and video retrieval, analysis, and storage. One of the key themes of this year’s event was an examination of numerous policy issues confronting local public safety agencies as they implement video systems.  These include topics such as storage, chain of custody, public release, purchase considerations, and long-term operating and maintenance concerns.  Many public safety video systems record high definition images which consume large amounts of storage space.  These files are sometimes compressed by agency IT administrators in an attempt to reduce storage costs.  However, compression of video files greatly reduces their evidentiary value and can result in poor performance from analytical software.

It is important for agencies to have formal plans for video retrieval, analysis and storage that track the chain of the video evidence from the scene to the courtroom.  Problems associated with the public release of video were also discussed, including discussions on which agency actually owns the content in a multi-agency system.  A VQIPS working group is creating a document that will identify best practices and other considerations to help agencies create model policies.

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Video Use

NPSTC gave a presentation on prehospital use of video by EMS personnel.  This session focused on information being compiled by NPSTC after polling paramedics, medical directors and emergency department managers on preferred methods of video use.  A number of divergent views were identified in the report as well as some strong consensus on use of video in certain patient care scenarios. Issues of privacy, security, and video ownership were also discussed.

Click here to view the presentation. NPSTC also operates a Video Technology Advisory Group (VTAG) which works with the DHS public safety video VQiPS group.  You can join the VTAG group by clicking here.

Evolving Video Technology

Several presentations were given at the workshop to demonstrate the evolving state of video technology and analytics to assist public safety.  New generation cameras are able to compensate for a variety of lighting conditions and are being tested for other uses.  For example, testing is underway to determine if a camera can detect a smoke haze more effectively than a smoke detector.  New speech-to-text software modules also coming to the marketplace will allow rapid searches for key words present in an officer’s body camera audio and other voice files, including 911 and radio).   Interconnected cameras are also able to identify a suspect who breaches a security perimeter and initiate their own pan/tilt/zoom tracking of the suspect.  These new systems can also automatically “hand off” the track to the next camera based on the location and direction of the suspect.

Case Studies

A number of case studies were presented featuring a variety of agencies who have implemented video systems.  Representatives of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey gave a detailed presentation on all aspects of their ongoing camera system upgrade.  This project impacts multiple airports, ports, and transit systems in the greater New York area. The discussion included a review of issues surrounding the transition from analog to IP-based technology; standardization of security and access policies; and network considerations for storage and retrieval of video records.  A presentation on the recent Baltimore protests and riots reviewed the effective use of tactical video and analytics to enhance the safety of protestors and public safety personnel.  This session also included a discussion on the use of news media video and issues caused from the use of camera drones by TV news stations. The City of Philadelphia gave a presentation on the integration of video into their real time crime center and their strategy to expand their system.

 Redaction

There was significant interest among all attendees on the issue of redaction and how local agencies are processing video evidence prior to public release.  Most states have unique public records laws, also known as Freedom of Information Act, which legislate how video records shall be released.  Many agencies are struggling to meet these requirements given the extraordinarily large amount of video records that are created.   It was noted that the redaction process involves multiple, independent steps that are time consuming.  First, the agency must determine what portions of the video image must be “scrambled” to protect the privacy of the person being captured in the video segment.  Next, agencies must review the audio file associated with the video and redact identification and sensitive information.  Finally, an agency must examine any meta data embedded with the video record to determine if location data or other tags need to be removed.  Much of this redaction is done manually by technical personnel and there is a great need for an automated process which will help expedite the release of video records to the public.