Live look-in system in place on all RTD buses
In support of RTD’s Welcoming Transit Environment initiative, a substantial safety and security project has been completed and is in use on all RTD buses: the addition of live look-in equipment in case of an emergency situation.
The live look-in software – paid for by an approximately $2.400万美元.S. Department of Homeland Security grant RTD was awarded in September 2020, which also includes professional services and five years of maintenance – supersedes a system on agency buses for decades. Using the prior technology, dispatch could only hear audio inside the bus.
With the addition of the live look-in system, RTD’s public safety dispatchers can use a secure, cellular network connection to hear audio and view video in real time from the cameras on board that vehicle. The new approach helps bus dispatch and 交通警察 better understand an issue, including how to assist employees and the public in a timely manner.
交通警察 pursued the project because the prior system was approaching the end of its useful life, 伊斯雷尔·劳弗说, the department’s Integrated Security Systems Program Manager. “We already had cellular connectivity onboard our vehicles, 所以我们想利用它,他说. “We were looking for technology innovations and thinking ahead.”
Each one of RTD’s buses has the capability to house the system, both the agency’s own vehicles and those operated for the agency by contractor Transdev. Installation of the new software began in early 2023.
截至7月15日, about 19% of the agency’s light rail vehicles also have had live look-in capability added. The remainder of the fleet must be retrofitted with this ability by June 2027, in accordance with state requirements.
通勤轨道车辆, maintained by concessionaire Denver Transit Partners, already have this capability on the company’s own private wireless network, 使用一个独立于RTD的系统, Laufer说.
All system user activity is tracked and recorded. All system users have received training to reinforce that the system is to be used only to observe and report serious safety hazards.
The new software also evolves RTD’s ability to retrieve video for investigations. 大约30年前, when digital video recorders were first placed on buses, hard drives had to be physically pulled from the vehicle for review, Intelligent Transportation Systems Manager Tom 休斯说. 在过去十年中, the addition of Wi-Fi to buses allowed investigators to capture video only after the vehicle pulled into the garage at night and all the data had been downloaded through a Wi-Fi connection. Now, information can be reviewed and retrieved in the moment. This fact can be crucial for police investigations, when every moment counts, Laufer说.
“There's nothing like a dispatcher looking at the live look-in and explaining over the radio and describing the suspect, 他是谁，在哪里离开的, 什么站, 什么位置. That’s a million dollars right there,” he noted. “The operator is so busy with driving the bus, and so many things are happening that the live look-in system relieves the operator from focusing on a precise description: Was he wearing a red vest, 棒球帽, 一件黑衬衫?
“现在, all they have to do is press a silent alarm button and people will be able to help them out, to get the exact description out and what happened, and be able to view both live video as well as the video playback of what occurred,劳弗说.
虽然并不新鲜, this type of software is becoming more commonplace as mobile communication technology advances and transit agencies understand the advantages it can provide, 休斯说. 这个项目得以实现, 他和劳弗说, because of input from across the agency to determine business needs.
“I am proud to say that the system is being used hourly and daily, 我可以看到系统仪表盘, 视频检索和统计,劳弗说.