PubliCam Streaming, developed by Publisafe, is a market-leading tool that allows streaming of private surveillance videos to police in emergency situations with the owner’s consent. PubliCam can work with entities small and large, from individual shops to public schools that have hundreds of cameras.
Although in many cities police have access to public cameras, there are many more private cameras that could potentially be a crucial crime fighting tool but are usually out of reach to the police. Access to real-time video feeds from these private cameras could be imperative to planning police operations and protecting officers. The main obstacle to private camera access is the issue of camera owner privacy. PubliCam Streaming addresses this hurdle with an innovative approach, which permits police to gain access to critical information while still allowing the camera owners to maintain control over their equipment and ensuring their privacy.
PubliCam Streaming is a joint public-private initiative program that encourages citizens to register their security or surveillance cameras with local police. Its cloud-based software transmits video feeds from registered cameras to the police, but only upon police request as an incident is reported. At all other times video acquisition by police is prohibited and the owner can verify that cameras are not being accessed.
When police receive a 911 call or are otherwise notified, the address of an incident is entered into the system, which allows PubliCam to locate registered cameras within a certain radius of the incident. PubliCam then acquires the video feed from those cameras, processes it and delivers it to the police command center using a web-based app. Camera owners are alerted to the fact that video feed is being transmitted to the police in real time and can terminate it if access is unwarranted. The owner is also notified of the name of the officer who initiated the access. The video acquisition process is halted by police once the operation is over, or after a predetermined period. As soon as access to the cameras has been terminated, the owner receives another message, with a termination timestamp.
While the intent of PubliCam is to provide access to cameras only in an emergency, some organizations, such as School districts and Police Departments, may decide that more regular access to cameras may eliminate the need for SROs to visit school campuses, thus reducing the police footprint.
For more information, call us at 312-671-9681 or contact Sergey Zaks at [email protected]
