Video surveillance-as-a-service in Detroit, automatic crime prediction in California and live-streaming police drones — all with a cloud connection — are on display this week at a law enforcement exposition in San Diego. The International Association of Chiefs of Police Annual Conference and Exposition started Saturday, with roughly 14,000 law-enforcement personnel expected to attend and 700 exhibitors showing their wares.
Amazon Web Services and Microsoft are both show sponsors this year, along with other tech companies including AT&T, Cisco, Motorola, Uber and Verizon.
Microsoft has signed 23 states’ Criminal Justice Information Services agreements, which it says helps ensure that its Azure cloud services can be used consistent with transmission, storage and processing requirements imposed by the CJIS division of the FBI.
Genetec, of Montreal, Canada, is using Azure to provide video streaming, cataloging and storage to the Detroit Police Department in a project known as Green Light, Microsoft said in a release. Over an eight-month period, the project equipped dozens of stores, gas stations and other businesses with high-resolution indoor and outdoor surveillance cameras. Video was streamed to and stored by Azure. Then, when a 9-1-1- call was received, video could instantly be pulled from the relevant location to begin gathering evidence.
Last month, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said the project had cut violent crime at camera-equipped locations by 50 percent.
PredPol, of Santa Cruz, Calif., is using Azure Government, a specialized cloud offering, to predict places, dates and times where crimes are most likely to occur. The Mountain View, Calif., police department is using PredPol and is “confident that meeting future policy requirements will be seamless,” according to police chief Max Bosel. The system is also being used in Santa Cruz, Calif., where deputy chief Steve Clark called it “just incredibly accurate,” according to PredPol’s website.
A Windows 10-based model patrol car, on display at the show, includes an associated Aeryon SkyRanger drone that provides streaming real-time video. A Getac video-recording system from Getac, of Irvine, Calif., uploads video from any combination of in-car, 360-degree out-of-car and bodycam video to be uploaded to Azure Government. Micro-robots from ReconRobotics, of Minneapolis, provide video and audio reconnaissance in hazardous situations. No mention of whether the vehicle needs to be periodically rebooted.
Amazon Web Services’ approach to the conference seemed more tentative, aiming at debunking myths about whether the cloud is appropriate for law enforcement.
“We are seeing more police departments in the U.S. and around the globe move their mission-critical applications and data to the cloud,” AWS said in a blog post about its presence at the show. More than 2,300 government organizations are using AWS, and AWS has signed CJIS security agreements with its customers, the company said.
Not to be outdone by its cloud rival, Michael Donlan, vice president, U.S. state and local government at Microsoft, said that law enforcement agencies are turning to Azure Government.
“Our cloud powers real-time, intelligence-led, first-response capabilities that enable law enforcement to do more, and achieve more, for the citizens they serve — today and into the future,” he said.
The International Association of Chiefs of Police Annual Conference and Exposition continues through tomorrow.
