Photo by Sean Keenan | The Signal
More surveillance cameras will be appearing around Atlanta in an effort to make the city a safer place.
On Feb. 16 Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed unveiled plans to tighten the city’s security by kicking off a new safety initiative for the year.
“Public safety has always been my first priority,” he said, according to a press release from the mayor’s office.
The new safety initiatives entail expanding the Video Integration Center (VIC), Atlanta Police Department’s surveillance system, in order to prevent and solve crime.
Nikki Forman, Communications Director at the Atlanta Police Foundation explained how the Video Integration Center functions as a surveillance network.
“The VIC is staffed 24-hours a day, seven days a week, and through predictive policing technology and our collaboration with the 911 call center, officers are able to focus on the most critical areas of town at any given time,” she said.
Forman also said the VIC shows cops nearby camera footage when an emergency call is received.
“When a call is placed to 911, the four closest cameras to the incident pop up on the video wall, and the two closest cameras to the incident are rewound five minutes, which gives the officers in the VIC eyes on the scene before an officer can physically arrive to the location of the incident.”
Reed said new technology is being tested that could signal first responders as quickly as possible, in case of a major attack in the city.
Approximately 5,900 cameras have already been integrated into the city. New cameras are being installed weekly in an effort to bring that count up to 10,000 cameras.
Deputy Chief Carlton Mullis of the Georgia State University Police Department said that, although there are cameras on campus, not all of them are currently synced with the VIC.
“We currently have about 1,055 cameras located on the Georgia State campus,” he said. “These cameras are in housing and other buildings on campus, as well as about 100 exterior cameras. The Georgia State cameras should soon be fully integrated into the Atlanta Police Department’s VIC.”
Reed said last week that the terror attacks in San Bernardino and Paris influenced the initiative.
