WESTPARK
Westpark is a community center within the city of Ventura. About ten (10) years ago it was a run down facility with old equipment and vandals around every corner. Wireless Technology, Inc. (WTI) was originally called in to do a wireless camera setup for the perimeter of the building. Four remote cameras, each on a stand alone pole viewing every section of the perimeter approach to the facility. Within days, the original setup was gunned down by gang members who made the center their hangout. The community center then had a better understanding to what lengths the gangs will go and approved a few minor, but critically important, upgrades. The camera housings were replaced with bullet resistant units, and three Ambervision I night vision cameras were added to the facility. After the upgrades the vandalism stopped in all areas of the facility. No more graffiti, no people getting mugged, and it became an all around safe place thanks to the design and setup of the WTI equipment.
Over the years, Westpark became a safe area where kids could go while their parents were at work. They play basketball, study, and hang out with their peers in a secure environment. As time went on, they opened a newly furnished basketball gym to the public for people eighteen and older; but, with the new gym and the increased traffic, came issues with fights and damages to the interior of the gym. That’s where we came in again.
The existing WTI cameras stayed right where they were; the new objective was to secure the primary entrance and the inside of the new gym; adding a total of five (5) new cameras to the setup. The first two (2) cameras were “bullet type” cameras that were placed facing the entrance, followed by two (2) covert “hidden” cameras pointing down the two side walls approaching the main door. The next camera, an additional Ambervision camera, was placed on a telephone pole that was about sixty (60) feet away from the building, set forty (40) feet up in the air, to give a strong visual, day or night, of the entire front of the building. With the camera additions, along with the existing seven (7) cameras, gave us a clear view of the entire outside of the building and key areas of the interior of the gym.
After we were comfortable with the way the project looked, we made a final walk through with the director of the facility. They expressed concerns with two possible entry points; one to the north gym and the other to the south near the primary door where we placed our first camera; the new problem areas were under the baskets at each end of the gym. We had narrowed it down to two options that we were going to go with. The first was a P/T/Z dome camera, and the second was two fixed cameras. After discussing the options with the director of the gym, we decided to go with fixed cameras. This was an easy decision after finding out that they would not have someone in the front office monitoring the P/T/Z camera at all times.
On the east and west of the gym, they decided to add two more fixed, vandal resistant, mini dome cameras about thirty five (35) feet up in the air to specifically monitor play on each side of the basketball court. The reason for this was to not only get a perfect visual of activity on the basketball court, but the cameras added an additional general view of the entry points, as mentioned before. This enabled them to have identifiable images of who is coming, and who is going and a wide general shot to see if a crowd was gathering anywhere. With the cameras up, the video in place, with a total of 16 cameras, the approximate 10,000 square foot facility was covered, inside and out.
Westpark is a community center within the city of Ventura. About ten (10) years ago it was a run down facility with old equipment and vandals around every corner. Wireless Technology, Inc. (WTI) was originally called in to do a wireless camera setup for the perimeter of the building. Four remote cameras, each on a stand alone pole viewing every section of the perimeter approach to the facility. Within days, the original setup was gunned down by gang members who made the center their hangout. The community center then had a better understanding to what lengths the gangs will go and approved a few minor, but critically important, upgrades. The camera housings were replaced with bullet resistant units, and three Ambervision I night vision cameras were added to the facility. After the upgrades the vandalism stopped in all areas of the facility. No more graffiti, no people getting mugged, and it became an all around safe place thanks to the design and setup of the WTI equipment.
Over the years, Westpark became a safe area where kids could go while their parents were at work. They play basketball, study, and hang out with their peers in a secure environment. As time went on, they opened a newly furnished basketball gym to the public for people eighteen and older; but, with the new gym and the increased traffic, came issues with fights and damages to the interior of the gym. That’s where we came in again.
The existing WTI cameras stayed right where they were; the new objective was to secure the primary entrance and the inside of the new gym; adding a total of five (5) new cameras to the setup. The first two (2) cameras were “bullet type” cameras that were placed facing the entrance, followed by two (2) covert “hidden” cameras pointing down the two side walls approaching the main door. The next camera, an additional Ambervision camera, was placed on a telephone pole that was about sixty (60) feet away from the building, set forty (40) feet up in the air, to give a strong visual, day or night, of the entire front of the building. With the camera additions, along with the existing seven (7) cameras, gave us a clear view of the entire outside of the building and key areas of the interior of the gym.
After we were comfortable with the way the project looked, we made a final walk through with the director of the facility. They expressed concerns with two possible entry points; one to the north gym and the other to the south near the primary door where we placed our first camera; the new problem areas were under the baskets at each end of the gym. We had narrowed it down to two options that we were going to go with. The first was a P/T/Z dome camera, and the second was two fixed cameras. After discussing the options with the director of the gym, we decided to go with fixed cameras. This was an easy decision after finding out that they would not have someone in the front office monitoring the P/T/Z camera at all times.
On the east and west of the gym, they decided to add two more fixed, vandal resistant, mini dome cameras about thirty five (35) feet up in the air to specifically monitor play on each side of the basketball court. The reason for this was to not only get a perfect visual of activity on the basketball court, but the cameras added an additional general view of the entry points, as mentioned before. This enabled them to have identifiable images of who is coming, and who is going and a wide general shot to see if a crowd was gathering anywhere. With the cameras up, the video in place, with a total of 16 cameras, the approximate 10,000 square foot facility was covered, inside and out.
We managed to bring all of these cameras back to a very confined main office, a place where people would come and go, non stop. We did this deliberately for two reasons: 1) This location was easily accessible, staffed at all times and all staff could go back and play the video if there were any problems; 2) As a deterrent, the LCD monitor for the system was mounted in plain view to the public as they entered the facility and passed by the office. The DVR (Digital Video Recorder) connected to the cameras is in a remote area of the office and is securely housed in a lockbox.
Most of the time people want cameras to catch the person in the act of the crime, or find out who did it; but when you are dealing with children, you want the crime stopped before it even starts.
~Patrick Kearns, Product Specialist
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