Centralized Surveillance On Minneapolis' Perimeter

Jul 1, 2003 12:00 PM, By KATE HENRY

Minneapolis' Transportation and Parking Services is a municipal operation that encompasses 22 structured parking garages and nine surface lots with about 24,500 spaces. Facilities are strategically located on the perimeter of downtown Minneapolis to provide people coming off the freeways a means to travel safely and comfortably via elevated skyways to downtown buildings.

The facilities are a highly visible gateway to the thousands of commuters and visitors who come to the city each day. The safety and security of those patrons is paramount, says Michael Sachi, parking and skyway systems engineer for Transportation and Parking Services.

Changing Challenges

Sachi has been involved in planning and designing both the facilities themselves and the safety measures securing them for a number of years. The city contracts a private parking operator to run the day-to-day operations of the parking system and to provide security services from systems operation and monitoring to officer patrols and incident response. But, ultimately, security is the responsibility of the city — and one it takes quite seriously, he says.

“Mainly we're trying to prevent all manner of crime — from violent crime to theft and vandalism,” explains Sachi. He adds that safety considerations are integral to the facility design: Passive features include stairwells and elevator cars enclosed in glass, screening around the ground levels of the facilities and fenced off potential hiding spaces, as well as bright and appropriate ceiling lighting. Active features are the security system components, he says, which include a combination of audio, visual and digital surveillance, monitoring and recording components.

“In the late 1980s, the city experienced some unfortunate violent crimes in and around both private and public parking facilities,” Sachi says. “It led us to develop more stringent guidelines and criteria, and surveillance was deemed a key part of the picture.”

Systems as Solutions

The next-generation security systems currently in place in Minneapolis parking facilities resulted from a specification process aimed at centralizing the security function throughout city parking facilities. “As we have grown and technology has advanced, we have been consolidating and upgrading our systems to take advantage of efficiencies of labor,” Sachi says. “We no longer have attendants watching individual ramps, for instance. Using network solutions, we are implementing an entire centralization concept.”

Previously, there was no central station, and security staff monitored each facility individually though several hardwired command centers. Now, central monitoring of both audio and visual surveillance is achieved in a new command center designed for one of the newer garages. “We currently have one central command center servicing a majority of the facilities,” Sachi says, “and we are integrating additional facilities on a phased-in basis — we're doing a few a year as budget permits and we're tying them in through a fiber-optic cable network and some microwave wireless transmission methods.”

One of the key security measures in place is more than 1,100 call-for-assistance stations from Stento (now Zenitel). The two-way intercom systems are linked to cameras, so when a patron presses the call button, an image of that station and any incident in progress is displayed in the command center, prompting the system to begin recording. Stations are located as frequently as the fire marshal requires fire extinguishers to be located — that is, at no point is a patron more than 75 feet from an assistance station.

Another key security measure is an extensive system of cameras and digital recording. With a mix of 1,500 black-and-white and color cameras provided by Sony, Panasonic and Ikegami, for example, and some 30 GE Interlogix DVMRes digitally recording any incidents, all facilities are closely observed.

“We consider it a deterrent that people know they are being watched,” Sachi says. Signage points out that the facility is monitored by both video and audio systems, and cameras are located in vehicle entrances and exits, pedestrian stairways and elevator lobbies, throughout the skyway system, and throughout the parking ramp levels themselves. “We have a number of transit facilities that stop at the parking facilities as well,” Sachi says. “So cameras also watch the bus waiting areas, for instance.”

The city is standardizing on the call-for-assistance stations and, in addition to the master digital recorder in place at the central command center, has a digital recorder in place at each facility so alarms are being recorded twice for layered security.

The system is capable of being monitored from networked PCs, although there are firewall and network protection considerations; and the capability to tie digital monitoring in with access control functions is a future consideration.

“Overall, the technology is helping us move toward a more automated and efficient operating environment, but we will always have security officers on duty around the clock,” Sachi says.

Future Planning

The centralization process has been two-pronged. Says Sachi: “On the one hand we have older facilities we have been upgrading in a retrofit manner — we have a contractor on board who is upgrading and tying the older facilities into the command center, with the new digital recording, standardized audio systems and new video switching equipment. For the new facilities, the equipment goes in as part of the specifications of new construction, making for a smooth process.”

Public reaction to the entire security centralization process has been consistently favorable, and the city of Minneapolis has seen the number of incidents in parking ramps — including theft, vandalism and assault — decrease over the duration of the upgrades and expansion. The consolidation of operations has provided considerable maintenance cost and labor savings as well, he adds. “In the past we had nine command centers out there — our ultimate goal is one.”

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About The Companies

For information, circle the Reader Service number (listed below) or visit securitysolutions.com

GE Interlogix	60
Ikegami	61
Panasonic	62
Sony	63
Zenitel	64

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