Advanced Security Cameras Give Cities New Ways to Deter Vandalism and Theft

The prank sounds harmless enough: High school students wait until dark, pour soap into a public fountain and laugh as it fills up with bubbles. But when it happened 17 times in one year — ruining several $30,000 pumps and requiring a two-day cleanup process each time — city officials in Opelika, Ala., began searching for a tech solution to put an end to the hijinks.

“It happened five weeks in a row, and the city manager told me we needed some way of detecting bubbles in the fountain,” says Stephen Dawe, CIO for the city of nearly 40,000 people.

With no automatic bubble-detecting technology available, the city had to invent its own solution, integrating computer vision with artificial intelligence (AI) tools and Cisco Meraki security cameras. The new setup has reduced incidents at the fountain to nearly zero, saving the city at least $75,000 a year.

Governments have been using security cameras for decades to boost public safety and thwart vandals and thieves. But recent tech advancements are making cameras more effective tools than ever before.

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Eric Piza, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at Northeastern University, says that camera tech has advanced so much in recent years that researchers can barely keep up.

“Camera systems are much more commonly incorporating AI and computer vision technologies, and cameras have become ingrained in police operations throughout the country,” he says.

Expanding Use Cases for Smart Cameras

With the help of CDW, Dawe designed an integrated solution leveraging Cogniac’s computer vision platform, Vantiq’s AI model and Meraki cameras to detect either humans or bubbles in the fountain. But training the model presented a challenge because the city couldn’t actually fill the fountain with bubbles without damaging it.

“We bought a little pool from Walmart and put it in the parking lot, and then we put a little green screen around it,” Dawe says. “We got a fire truck to fill it up with water, created all these bubbles, and then our marketing folks photoshopped those bubbles onto an image of the fountain.”

That gave Dawe what he needed to train the AI model, with a resulting accuracy rate of around 70%. Months later, when the fountain was scheduled to be drained and cleaned, Dawe got the green light to photograph bubbles in the fountain itself, upping the accuracy rate to nearly 85%.

The city is now also using the technologies to protect Opelika’s public parks, pools and sports facilities. Next, Dawe has his sights on reducing traffic accidents by capturing the distance between vehicles at different intersections and adjusting the timing of traffic lights.

“It’s become much more than just one solution,” Dawe says. “But it all traces back to soap bubbles in a fountain.”

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Colorado Springs Takes a Multifaceted Approach to Deterring Vandals

Before John Venezia Park in Colorado Springs, Colo., even opened several years ago, vandals and thieves targeted the space, spraying graffiti, damaging contractor equipment and stealing copper cabling.

In response, the city invested in Tsunami Multipoint 820 Series wireless access points from Proxim Wireless to support connected security cameras. The city uses the wireless radio system to transmit streaming video from cameras mounted on light poles back to park buildings, which in turn are connected to the city’s network. The setup allows police to view, capture and record vandalism at the park.

Says Eric Becker, parks maintenance and operations manager for the city, “It is sometimes difficult to draw a linear correlation between the implementation of certain safety measures at parks and a reduction in vandalism. In general, we try to utilize a multifaceted approach to curtail crime and vandalism in parks when possible. These measures include lighting, security access gates and locks, citizen activation, and, of course, cameras.”

The Proxim equipment came in at under $100,000, saving the city nearly 80% of its original emergency budget. Also, the equipment runs on batteries that are charged by the light poles themselves, meaning the city did not have to dig up its brand-new park to run new data and power lines.

Since this initial deployment, the city has expanded its use of Proxim equipment to other parks throughout Colorado Springs, adding a new layer of security without requiring drastic changes to infrastructure.

“One of the greatest benefits we have experienced is the ability to refresh equipment at park locations that didn’t initially have cameras,” Becker says. “We have seen a direct reduction in vandalism.”

Hopewell, Va. Increases Visibility at Intersections

Officials in Hopewell, Va., have made two significant investments in camera systems in recent years in hopes of increasing oversight in the city and curtailing incidents of theft and violence. A fleet of license plate readers helps police keep track of vehicles entering and exiting town, and in early 2023, the city also deployed more than 90 security cameras, including 23 Verkada CH52-E Multisensor four-way cameras, at intersections.

“The cameras started benefiting the city immediately once they were installed,” says Jay Rezin, Hopewell’s IT director.

According to Hopewell police, the city saw a 38% reduction in major crime after deploying the cameras. “The cameras provide visibility on the street, and that makes a significant difference,” Rezin says. “Our police department now is able to use video to help identify suspects and victims."

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The Verkada cameras, which are connected via a cellular network, store footage locally for up to 30 days. Police and city officials can monitor the camera feeds in real time, and when there are incidents, they can pull footage and store it in the cloud for as long as it is needed.

Looking ahead, Rezin says, the city is considering how to use additional camera features — for example, setting an alert if the device spots more than a certain number of people gathered in a particular location.

“We’re not using all of the capabilities of the technology at this point,” he says. “We’re still growing.”

UP NEXT: Cities use sensors to boost public safety in entertainment districts.