Utility, Inc. hosted the "The Future of Video Redaction Technology" workshop at the 40th Annual Law Enforcement Information Management (LEIM) Training Conference and Technology Exposition on Wednesday, May 25 from 8:00 a.m.—9:00 a.m. in the Lone Star A4 room. Police chiefs, IT managers, technology specialists, criminal justice practitioners, researchers and industry-leading solution providers were invited to attend the event, led by Augustin Pruneda, Sergeant of the Bexar County Sheriff's Office in San Antonio, Texas and Mike Jander,BodyWorn account manager at Utility, Inc. LEIM attendees will also had the opportunity to experience Utility's BodyWorn, AVaiL Web, Smart Redaction and Rocket IoT, which will be presented throughout each day in Booth #121.
"Body camera programs are expanding nationwide. Law enforcement officers are discovering the need for effective video redaction technology," said Robert McKeeman, CEO of Utility. "This workshop will focus on the future of what is next for body camera technology and trends in which we are at the forefront. The panel will touch on advice for video redaction, including how to respond to media inquiries and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in a timely manner, as well as how software, such as our Smart Redaction, can help departments save time and money."
Smart Redaction automatically identifies and redacts faces, body parts and other identifiable objects in a video. Video administrators can selectively blur or not blur images as needed; these unique redaction capabilities allow redacted videos to be released quickly for press and FOIA requests. While redaction labor costs are dramatically reduced, Smart Redaction also enables increased police accountability and transparency.
In addition to the workshop, Utility representatives were joined by Sergeant Pruneda to offer an exclusive demonstration of Utility's revolutionary Rocket IoT in-car video system. Rocket IoT is the first-ever smart patrol car system that fully integrates video, audio and metadata captured from In-Car and BodyWorn cameras. LEIM attendees can see firsthand how Rocket IoT enables police departments to view and manage police activity in a seamless, efficient and cost-effective manner. The system works by installing each patrol car with Utility's Rocket IoT video server, which provides secure Wi-Fi for up to 1,500 feet around the vehicle. The Wi-Fi vehicle area network provides real-time communications between all in-car and BodyWorn cameras in and around the police car. The officer's BodyWorn camera will record video and audio even when the officer is beyond the range of traditional 900 MHz wireless microphones.
Sergeant Pruneda also provided attendees with a first-hand look at a few of BodyWorn's unique features, including Smart Offload, immediate video playback on the BodyWorn device, quick classification of video evidence, real-time BOLO Alerts, "Officer Down" alerts and geotagging using the device's built-in GPS, which enables central dispatch to create GeoFences and action zones to automatically initiate video recording on every BodyWorn device within the selected area. Using this feature, police department administrators can also easily search for, view, categorize, redact and export the video files stored to the cloud in a timely basis.
