Sept. 21, 2020 - Police departments have been a subject in much dialogue these days. While there is quite a bit of conflict about what the future of policing may look like, one thing is certain: modern police departments need to become more effective and efficient. As we move forward, technology will be the decisive force that provides public safety departments the best tools to ensure this. A perfect example of this has been the integration of bodycams and how this has solved much of the once subjective portion of encounters.
With advances like 5G rolling out, we will see communication connectivity like never before. Utilizing field deployed drones, real-time bodycam viewing, and real-time 4K video transfer back to an operations center will become commonplace. We even have cities that have deployed systems with strategically placed microphones that can detect and pinpoint gunshots in order to notify police departments and dispatch help immediately. And of course, we will see greater use of AI to assist in making sense of all this data.
What does all of this mean? It means more and more data... a never-ending stream of it. On the plus side, we have AI and other tools being developed to assist in making sense of all that data and to ensure that the important stuff is flagged. But in the end, humans have to make life and death decisions in real time. As a result, this data needs to be presented in a way that can helps humans make sense of everything at hand and adapt on the fly. Think about how much better outcomes can be when everyone has a clear picture. The “fog of war” can be understood as that state when not everyone knows what is going on and as a result, mistakes are made due to a lack of visibility... This is where Jupiter clears the “fog of war”.
When we take all our data, all our cameras, and all the tools available and present them in a logical fashion, we can mitigate that fog. Situational awareness is knowing what's going on in all corners. Greater visibility means that we can make less mistakes because we have all the RELEVANT information in front of us. When you leverage the expertise that Jupiter brings to the table, you have the tools to create systems that allow greater visualization of your data like you’ve never had. While the scene on the ground may be foggy... your visualization will be clear as day.
Jupiter’s expertise doesn’t just lie within the greatness of a Catalyst processor or a PixelNet system, we pride ourselves in the overall ecosystem we provide. When you combine our world class hardware solutions with the Canvas platform, we can now ensure a crystal-clear view no matter where you are. It's one thing for the operations center (40 miles away) to have this view of the situation, but if you can’t leverage that situational awareness so that the incident commanders who are in the hot seat can make use of it... you have a big problem. This is the area where those decisions are made, and we see too many examples in the news where mistakes are made with sometimes tragic outcomes. Usually due to an officer or team not having sufficient info to make the right decision.
Using our Canvas platform, we can take that clear view in an operations center and send it to a tablet, or mobile command center in the field. This allows the incident commander on the ground to not just see what they see, but this person can annotate and strategize on those screens to understand a layout, or where people are located and have full clarity in all aspects of the scenario as it plays out. And as things change, they can continue to adjust their plan on the fly. This is the level of customizability you need to ensure operations carry on smoothly and efficiently.
Modern policing/community safety has changed, and we are potentially on the cusp of even greater changes ahead. One thing is constant though, the need for clarity and understanding of what's happening on the ground. With the breadth of products that Jupiter brings to the table, the modern police department can be better equipped than ever before to fulfill their primary mission... To Serve and Protect.
by Justin Shong
