SAFE FLEET BLOG

For a lot of urban transit systems, the volume of requests from law enforcement for bus surveillance video to aid in criminal investigations can be overwhelming.  And even worse, the process you have to go through to locate relevant video is often time-consuming — but it doesn’t have to be.  If this situation sounds familiar, you might want to consider investing in video management software with automatic video downloading capabilities.  Advanced video management software can drastically reduce the amount of time it takes to locate, retrieve, and review requested bus video.  Here are just a few ways it can help:

Eliminate Manual Video Retrieval

One of the easiest ways to speed up the video retrieval process is to take advantage of wireless networking to download video.  Buses can be equipped with a wireless bridge so that you can download video over a WiFi network as soon as it returns to the yard.  But a word of caution, not all WiFi networks are suitable for video downloading.  Work with your video surveillance provider to ensure you implement a wireless solution that is ready for the throughput and bandwidth that video demands.

Trigger Automatic Video Downloading

Video surveillance management software can be set up to trigger the automatic download of bus video based on certain conditions such as hard braking, vehicle speed, panic alarms, or sharp turns and stops.  You can also schedule video to be downloaded as soon as you receive a request for video.  You don’t have to wait until the bus returns to the yard.

Search for Video by Geographic Location

Ever get a request from law enforcement for video footage from a particular intersection?  What happens when you discover that more than 10 buses cross that intersection in a day?  It could take hours to produce the right footage.  With a feature like geographic search found in the Safe Fleet Nexus Video Management software, you could process this request in seconds instead of hours.  Selecting an area on the map will create a search zone and display the routes of any buses that traveled in that zone on the chosen day.  Simply click on the route displayed to set the start and end time of your recording. Voila! Your video is prepped for download!

Store Video in a Secure, Central Location

Once you’ve downloaded your video, you also want to easily locate it in the future while ensuring it doesn’t get into the wrong hands.  Good video surveillance management software lets you control access to video by assigning varying levels of user permissions and gives you an easy way to search your video archives for relevant footage.

Don’t let yourself get overwhelmed by video requests!  A small investment in video surveillance management software with wireless downloading can yield big savings on your time and labor.