Fla. City Installs Genetec Security Center to Protect Police HQ

Sanford, Fla., has installed Genetec's unified security platform, the Security Center, for both access control and video surveillance in their new public safety complex.

The city also chose Security Center to upgrade their five utility facilities and City Hall, which were already equipped with independent video surveillance and access control systems. Using the Federation feature in Security Center, the Sanford was able to pull all independent systems into the new public safety complex's platform and seamlessly manage all these systems as if they were one. The Omnicast video surveillance system and Synergis access control system within the Security Center solution manage 106 cameras and just over 100 doors respectively across the federated platform.

"We used physical keys for access control in our last building. The new system is far more efficient, yet despite the jump in technology, the platform is also quite user friendly, so there was no lengthy training process to get us up to speed. We've been very happy with it," according to Sgt. Dave Morgenstern.

The state-of-the-art, 75,000 square foot, Public Safety Complex houses both fire and police headquarters as well as the city's emergency operations center. John Grocke of Site Secure, a Genetec Unified Elite Integrator handling Sanford's municipal security installs, knew Security Center had excelled in other critical facilities. When construction of the Complex was complete, he also recommended and oversaw the installation of 83 Axis Communications network cameras. Fourteen of those IP cameras, including outdoor-ready AXIS Q6032-E PTZ Dome and AXIS P1343-E Fixed Network Cameras, monitor the parking lot and building exterior, and the remaining 69 (mostly vandal-resistant AXIS P3343-V Fixed Dome Network Cameras) monitor the interior.

The network cameras selected by Site Secure all have an H.264 compression option for efficient storage and have embedded intelligent capabilities that help maximize the City of Sanford's effectiveness, such as video motion detection which can alert law enforcement to suspicious event and initiate higher-resolution recordings in the Omnicast system on movement.

"There are so many ways we can put this system to work, such as using our archives in an audit capacity to track evidence handling if a dispute arises in court," according to Nicholas McRay, senior project manager at the city of Sanford. "Security Center has been surprisingly adept at contouring itself to fit our sophisticated needs."

The Synergis system manages 78 access-controlled points, primarily using HID PoE EdgeReader^TM ER40s and HID EdgePlus E400s, including parking gates, sally ports and evidence lockers. Other hardware was also integrated including HID Global biometric devices and PIN keypads for high security areas like the evidence room and armory. The facility also utilizes offsite monitoring, triggering alarms in the event of a door being forced open or propped open for too long.

Sanford's system is supported by two IBM Blade servers and an 18 terabyte SAN. The server room is mirrored at City Hall with redundant connections as a failsafe. Monitoring is possible 24/7 from the onsite Security Center solution, with eyes on all federated systems in the event of emergency. "The installation itself went smoothly. Security Center easily incorporated the third-party hardware, and the Genetec support team was extremely helpful," said John Grocke.

Security Center has provided the Complex with a high degree of flexibility in configuring permissions to accommodate a myriad of logistics and legislation details. Accreditation rules require that police and fire records and activities remain completely separate; the departments share common areas, but all other doors and video must be strictly segregated. Additionally, the investigation room has its own isolated workstation for viewing interrogation video, configured with a higher security clearance.