Camera Inoperative
[From No murder clues from police cam :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Chicago Crime]
Three teenagers were shot on Friday in Chicago (ABC in Chicago). In trying to find the suspect, the police noted that a nearby surveillance camera may be of use. In a post over the weekend, I pointed out how many of the local police officers don’t support the cameras. A couple of comments by police officers in that post pointed out the cameras have significant maintenance issues.
Today, it was reported the camera’s blue light was blinking, but the camera was not recording. Apparently, the camera was an upgraded first generation camera. (For more information on the various cameras – see this report by the CPD). The camera was not capable of streaming its recordings, because the “area does not allow for a wireless connection.”
With a little detective work using ClearMap, I found 6 cameras within a half mile of the inoperative camera. I know the city has a mesh network for its wireless, so I don’t understand why they didn’t have a wireless connection. A range of half a mile should not be a big deal.
Another explanation is that the city has not upgraded the camera to wireless. However, in previous reports and statements, the city has stated that all the first generation cameras were updated.
So what is going on? Either way, its disappointing the camera was ineffective. However, of more concern is the lack of maintenance on the camera network. The city claims that 95% of its cameras are working at any time. I would love to see records backing that statement. But even if this is true, it means in a 15,000 camera network that 750 cameras are down and need to be fixed. This is a lot of ongoing work. Can anyone (John?) provide a cost of maintaining a 100 outdoor camera network. This is a cost that cities adopting camera networks need to consider.
Common estimate for maintenance is 15% of the installation cost per year. The cost of an outdoor camera depends on whether its PTZ or fixed, wireless or wireline, etc. Let’s estimate $3,000 USD for an outdoor camera and its installation (could be much higher if wireless PTZs). Yearly maintenance would average about $450 per camera or $45,000 for 100 cameras. Maintenance costs certainly add up. The biggest problem is that many organizations do not budget for maintenance and then need to scramble to find money to do so (or cannot find the money).
By the way, if these are wireless cameras, the maintenance risks are far higher than I describe.
Thanks John for the information. In a future post I will describe more accurately the kind of cameras Chicago is using, but I believe a significant percentage of the pod cameras used for crime are wireless. (Chicago has buried the cost of the cameras using multiple sources of funds, so its impossible to figure out what exactly the city has spent.)