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The San Francisco Police Department’s (SFPD) public safety initiative includes a visualization technology upgrade in their Department Operations Center (DOC) to improve situational awareness and tactical decision-making.

There are two key elements of the DOC upgrade: networked distribution of visuals within and outside the facility plus two centralized video display walls. SFPD deployed RGB Spectrum’s Zio and Galileo AV-over-IP platforms to create a collaborative, information-rich infrastructure providing interagency knowledge exchange, interaction, and collaboration. The result: improved incident assessment, analysis, decision-making, resource deployment, and response.

A critical requirement for the SFPD was the ability to share visuals and data throughout the facility, with mobile officers, its remote workforce, and other offsite entities. Within its headquarters, this information needed to be distributed throughout the DOC and adjacent training and conference rooms.

The Zio/Galileo platform combines integrated video distribution with sophisticated multi-image display and enterprise-wide AV distribution of information over any size network. This platform allows the SFPD to push video wall content to anyone, anywhere. Data flows into and from the facility. Critical information can be simultaneously displayed on the video wall and shared throughout the SFPD headquarters and with remote facilities via IP video streams on local area (LAN) and wide area (WAN) networks, with a VPN for added security. Personnel can select the entire video wall image, any region of interest on the wall, or individual visuals to be encoded and transmitted.

For broader dissemination of information, SFPD uses RGB Spectrum’s unique Zio Mobile App to give mobile personnel, vehicles, and facilities the ability to view the video wall content on a mobile phone or tablet in real time. SFPD personnel can drag and drop content onto the Zio network and push these streams to mobile devices anywhere. When new content is pushed out, a notification alerts the mobile recipients and lets them instantly view the stream. Additionally, remote personnel can retrieve their own desired content by browsing thumbnails and selecting streams for viewing on their mobile device. This exclusive capability enables the SFPD to distribute and share any stream to any device, anywhere.

The DOC’s centerpiece is its two large video walls powered by RGB Spectrum’s Galileo 4K video wall processor. The DOC room’s primary video wall is a 3 x 7 configuration, and its auxiliary video wall is a 3 x 3 configuration. A single Galileo processor can drive multiple video walls within the same or other rooms or feed both a video wall and individual displays interspersed throughout a facility. The output fed to multiple display surfaces can be the same or different.

The Galileo processor itself can directly receive and display IP streams from Zio encoders, as well as IP cameras and other H.264 devices. The processor receives input from surveillance cameras, police car tracking systems, incident command status systems, local traffic conditions, detailed maps, local and national news, local broadcasts, and other data. The processor consolidates these diverse sources, scales them to 4K resolution, and displays them in windows of any size, anywhere on the two video walls. Personnel collaboratively view this centralized common operating picture of the tactical situation for incident assessment, response, and resource deployment.

Personnel can easily switch and route inputs, instantly choose customizable, preset display layouts and pan and zoom to view items of particular interest.

The Zio/Galileo platform is scalable and easily expandable to meet growing requirements. The system automatically detects and indexes new Zio encoders and decoders as they are added to accommodate growth requirements.

Bob Marcus, President and CEO of RGB Spectrum, explained, “Building upon RGB Spectrum’s easily expandable platform, the San Francisco Police Department has enabled workflows to be shared region-wide, providing stakeholders and outside agencies access to SFPD resources. RGB Spectrum’s Zio AV-over-IP platform and Galileo video wall processor are ideal solutions for public safety operations. Together, they form a unique backbone to a decision-making AV system, part of the company’s commitment to aiding collaborative decision-making. Our motto: Better Decisions. Faster.^™

The San Francisco Police Department is the city police department of the City and County of San Francisco and for the San Francisco International Airport. The SFPD serves an estimated population of 1.2 million. In 2000, it was the 11th largest police department in the United States.

AVI-SPL is a global business partner providing audio visual solutions and managed services. AVI-SPL’s highly-trained team works with organizations to strategize, design, deploy, manage and support advanced audio visual solutions.