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Tyler, Texas Patrol Cars Get Digital Video

60 patrol-car system saves about $50,000 per year

The Tyler, Texas, Police Department recently equipped its patrol cars with a digital video system that allows officers to capture video of traffic stops and criminal activity in progress. The system saves the department about $50,000 each year in labor, management and supply costs, according to the Police Department.

The city also plans to add wireless capability to the system, enabling the transmission of live video images from the cruisers to the Police Department in near real time, according to Police Chief Gary Swindle.

The new Coban digital systems will replace the old analog videotape system. Benefits of the new system include longer life and higher image quality than analog tapes, improved security, improved efficiency and lower labor, management and supply costs.

Because analog systems must be activated manually by the police officer, they often fail to capture images of crimes in progress. By contrast, the "in-car" digital video system continuously records images and sound onto a 40 or 60-gigabyte hard drive. When the officer turns on his overhead "pursuit" lights, the previous minute of video and audio is saved, and recording continues until the officer turns off the system.

Installed in each of the department's 60 cruisers, the IBM in-car solution, using Coban Technologies' Video Mobile Data Terminal (VMDT), will collect data via digital video cameras mounted in the cars as well as from audio microphones worn by the police officers. The data will be fed to ruggedized computer hard drives in the vehicles.

At the end of an officer's shift, he or she will remove the hard drive, bring it into police headquarters, and upload any recorded images into a central data repository capable of storing 4.35 terabytes of data -- the equivalent of nearly one million full-length novels.
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