In 2007, the university began adding license plate recognition cameras to the neighborhoods around campus. Those cameras now capture 400,000 plates per month.
Of those captures, Drayton says less than 5 percent will set off an alert. An even smaller percentage will be from a wanted vehicle. However, the cameras have helped both USC police and LAPD officers solve a number of crimes.
The license plate cameras and dome cameras are monitored 24 hours a day by a team of operators in a command center located in USC’s department of public safety office. Drayton calls this practice “video patrol.”
“Video patrol differs from CCTV because … everybody else puts cameras up and hopes to catch something. What we’re doing is using the force multiplier of putting people to respond and technology that allows one person sitting at a console to be able to video patrol an area around the location of camera,” Drayton says.
The Firetide mesh network used to monitor the cameras transmits video to USC’s command center in real time. At night, the video feed switches automatically to black and white for better resolution.
“I’m really pleased with the camera system,” Pettus says. “We’ve caught some people that committed hit and runs. We got the actual incident on camera and were able to locate and track down the suspects. [The cameras] have been great, not just for our department, but for other departments out there that may need to use this as a resource for investigations.”
USC Takes the Retail Security Approach
Drayton points out that people looking to commit a crime can easily spot a patrol car but will be unable to tell if a camera operator is viewing them. If an operator monitoring the cameras spots a person exhibiting suspicious behavior,
he or she will contact an officer to approach the person and ask if he or she requires assistance. Drayton calls this a “retail security approach.”
“[The suspicious person] hasn’t done anything wrong,” Drayton says. “So if I approach them I say ‘my camera operator noticed you in the area … can I help you?’”
This allows the officer to get a conversation going, and point out to the potential criminal that “No. 1, somebody on the camera identified you; No. 2, I’m here, now I have eyes on you; and No. 3, I’ve asked you ‘what are you doing here?’ So now, if there’s any other indication that something is wrong, then I will ask you for your ID, and we will take it from there,” he adds.
The method is based on one used by department stores looking to prevent shoplifting.
