Facilities

Pelco Equipment Keeps A Protective Eye On Lady Liberty
By Joe Mcdevitt, Vice President, System Sales

When the United States Department of Interior, National Park Service, decided to upgrade the security surrounding the Statue of Liberty, Total Recall and Pelco provided the solution.

In May of this year, Mr. Jordan Heilweil, president of Total Recall Corporation (TRC) of Spring Valley New York, contacted me with some very special requests. Jordan informed us that he was working on a high-profile, sensitive and challenging installation. He was also very secretive about what he was doing.

As it turned out, the reason for all the secrecy was that Jordan had not yet been awarded the contract for the installation at the Statue of Liberty. But, he was so excited at the possibility of working on this project that he had taken the "Liberty" of designing the system and working out all of the special details that the successful bidder would need. Jordan told us, "I knew there would be serious national competition on this project. Since the ultimate decision would be based largely on the overall design, my ace in the hole was the System 9760™. This is a very powerful matrix switching system that’s user friendly and therefore very easy for dispatchers to operate." When all was said and done, Jordan was awarded the contract and challenged Pelco to meet some very special requirements.

Big Matrix Flexibility

Total Recall has found over the years and through many installations that the System 9760™ is so flexible and versatile that it satisfies almost any high-security requirement. They also have found that the system is very easy to use on a day-in, day-out basis. This is due to the system’s logical camera selection features.

In this installation, the operators have individually labeled each of the keyboard’s programmable keys with installation-specific titles. Upon a single keystroke, these keys may be used to switch the desired cameras up to the selected monitors. There are keys logically labeled and programmed for interior and exterior cameras, which makes observing the over 5 million annual visitors to the Statue of Liberty fast and effective.

Another benefit of this logical operation is training time for the operators. As you can imagine, it would be a very difficult job to memorize each and every camera in such a large installation. Without logical camera selection, this would be necessary. For instance, if a targeted subject was to walk to the elevator banks, most systems would require the operator to remember the camera numbers viewing the elevators so that they may be switched to the operator’s monitors. The System 9760™ makes this simple, which cuts training requirements in half – saving the government time and money.

Personalized Programmability

To facilitate the enhanced programming features of the system, Total Recall enlisted the assistance of Pelco’s Application Specialist, Dennis Dodrill. Dennis, a former New York City police officer, was deeply involved with Jordan Heilweil and United States Park Police Sergeant Charles Guddemi during the installation of this system. With the sergeant’s requests, Dennis helped program macros that assisted with automating the system operation and simplifying its user interface. Dennis also became very familiar with their general surveillance requirements. This, coupled with his law enforcement experience, allowed him to anticipate the US Park Police’s future needs. He even volunteered a few ideas of his own. This allowed him to "put the programming hooks in" for simple upgrades and new requests.

Spectra Specialization

At the feet of Ms. Liberty are Pelco’s world famous Spectra® domes. These high-speed, high-resolution pan/tilt/zoom camera domes are actually installed on the pedestal of the statue. This presented yet another challenge for Total Recall and Pelco. When we learned that our domes were to be installed on the actual structure, our own Vice President of Manufacturing, Tim Glines, was immediately contacted. Tim was called in for three reasons.

First, Jordan was concerned over future serviceability issues with the domes. He wanted a special mount designed that would allow the domes to be easily accessible for cleaning and service requirements.

Second, The National Park Service was very concerned over aesthetics of the equipment because this is a national monument, and they wanted the domes to blend into the structure as much as possible.

Third, we always call Tim when we get in a bind and need a quick, reliable solution. So, Tim put Lolo Garza on the case. Lolo, Tim, and Jordan discussed these requirements and Lolo asked Jordan to provide a hand sketch of how he envisioned the mount. On the back of a napkin, Jordan drew what he thought was a viable design to allow for servicing of the dome. After a few improvements on the original concept, and three days later, Lolo had the mount built. He then sent Jordan some color samples to bring with him to Liberty Island so that he could pick a matching color to the statue’s pedestal. What resulted was a specked type paint which added just the right texture and coloring to blend in nicely with the structure.

Complete Camera Coverage

To complement Liberty Island’s security, TRC has increased the island’s video coverage with more Pelco cameras, pan/tilts, housings and mounts. Basically, every square foot of the island and the statue – inside and out – are monitored, making this one of the most secured national monuments in the United States of America. We are proud to be associated with such a prestigious installation and are grateful to Total Recall for including us.

A special thanks goes to Dennis Dodrill for his technical expertise in satisfying such demanding requirements. Also to Tim Glines and Lolo Garza for their creative thinking and quick response. To Jordan Heilweil and all the gang at Total Recall for including us in such a prestigious installation. And to the United States Park Police for allowing us to serve them for a change.

Hats off to everyone involved.