BRIDGEPORT – Given worldwide security concerns, Bridgeport’s timing, in rolling out its new security blanket, couldn’t be better.
The $1 million BSafe Security Command Center is a one of a kind safety venture in Connecticut. In addition to video safety, this fusion center can manage Bridgeport's many technologies.
“Everything from a door access system to a building management system to GPS tracking to a panic button system,” said David Antar, of A+ Technologies & Security Solutions, which designed the center.
“It's also beneficial to emergency management, from the standpoint of snowstorms, hurricanes, that type of thing,” said Bridgeport’s Director of Public Facilities Jorge Garcia.
Cameras from the city's Safe Corridors program, which captured the tail end of an attempted abduction of a teen recently, are also integrated into this command center.
”We actually want to expand it to all the schools throughout the city of Bridgeport,” said Garcia. “We started with the high schools and we've rolled out four more this season.”
Featured on the command center’s massive wall of video monitors are several views of the Trumbull Gardens public housing complex, where nine people were shot, one fatally, back in June. Had the command center been online back then, evidence gathering could have certainly been expedited.
“If the cameras were facing in the right direction at the time and they had night vision capabilities, maybe we could have more quickly identified some of the people involved in that incident,” said Assistant Police Chief James Nardozzi.
“One of the things we've been doing since we've been working in the city of Bridgeport is to help to revamp some of the older camera systems and bring them up to current standards,” said Antar.
All of the technologies come back to the command center and trigger an event for staff to perform a visual verification.
“A similar command center to this that we built allows us to tie into their 911 center and during a 911 call we can bring up the closest cameras to an event,” said Antar.
This includes residential cameras, if the owners approve. The command center will be staffed and operational just after the first of the year.
