This document describes the Milwaukee Police Department’s 2016 efforts to optimize its surveillance system, which consisted of 42 cameras across 40 locations, discussing benefits and challenges, and providing recommendations for other departments to undertake similar efforts more efficiently.
This brief discusses the requirements for effective and efficient public surveillance systems, noting the importance for agencies to strategically place cameras where crimes are likely to occur or where evidence will probably be found and for staff to actively monitor camera feeds. It focuses on the Milwaukee Police Department’s (MPD) 2016 efforts to improve its surveillance system, which, at the time, was made up of 42 cameras across 40 locations. The MPD added 45 cameras to its public surveillance network, including 24 panoramic cameras and 12 pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras. The brief discusses the use of video analytics in law enforcement efforts, to improve public safety and help investigations, and the integration of gunshot detection technology (GDT) into surveillance systems. It discusses the authors’ research methodology, which included semistructured interviews with MPD staff who use or directly work with the camera program; it notes priorities for data collection; and discusses challenges with video analytics, integration of gunshot detection technology, automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) alerts, and other challenges. The brief also lays out some benefits of the analytic tools implemented in Milwaukee, including improved camera quality, GDT identification of shooting locations, and investigative leads from ALPR cameras. Lastly, the brief discusses some takeaways from the case study, and recommendations for law enforcement agencies that use or plan on integrating video analytic technologies in their surveillance systems.