Law enforcement professionals across the nation are facing growing challenges affecting public safety and security. This is driving a heightened demand for more effective and efficient tools to document events, maintain data integrity, and streamline evidence management processes for mission-critical law enforcement applications. With the ongoing development of new and more versatile imaging, evidence management, and intelligent software solutions, these individual products can be efficiently leveraged to provide powerful system solutions.

A recognized leader in fully integrated evidence acquisition and management technologies, Panasonic i-PRO Sensing Solutions Corporation of America continues to evolve and expand its extensive imaging and evidence management offerings with new technologies and advanced AI-driven software and analytics. i-PRO’s comprehensive portfolio of public safety and law enforcement solutions includes body-worn cameras, in-vehicle video systems, on-premises and cloud-hosted digital evidence management solutions, and intelligent analytics such as facial redaction to protect personal privacy. i-PRO seamlessly integrates these solutions to provide the law enforcement community with fully integrated system solutions from a single supplier.

New Solutions for the New Age

Today, law enforcement agencies are under tremendous scrutiny. As a result, it has become increasingly important to accurately document interactions and events. Because of this, the use of in-car video systems and body-worn cameras is rapidly growing and is increasing the amount of video being captured and archived. This additional video greatly expands system bandwidth and storage capacity requirements. It is also a time-consuming process to tag and catalog video evidence so that it can be easily located and made available for investigations and court proceedings.

Digital video evidence management has also placed a burden on already overtaxed agencies as thousands of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests require law enforcement professionals to spend time redacting innocent bystanders’ faces who may have inadvertently been caught on camera during an event of interest. When budgeting for a body-worn or in-vehicle system, many agencies overlook the residual costs associated with disclosure or the time involved to perform redaction.

While many individual products on the market claim to address these needs, they often require expensive and time-consuming integrations to be performed on a custom basis. However, there are numerous benefits to integrating these otherwise disparate products. The key is to seamlessly integrate all required technology solutions needed to maintain complete situational awareness with a secure chain of custody.

i-PRO addresses this challenge by integrating four core imaging and evidence management technologies to provide a fully integrated system solution for law enforcement applications.

Body-Worn Cameras

Built on i-PRO’s tradition of video surveillance excellence, the new BWC4000 body-worn camera with a 12-hour field-swappable battery is designed to keep officers on the street. The unit’s two-piece design is IP67/MIL-STD-810H rated to provide officers with a more durable and reliable way to capture video and audio evidence in virtually any condition. The BWC4000 records in 1080p and 720p HD video and seamlessly integrates with i-PRO’s on-premises Unified Digital Evidence (UDE) management software, as well as the new CloUDE powered by Genetec (CloUDE) evidence management solution. The BWC4000 also works in unison with legacy Arbitrator in-car video systems and i-PRO fixed-surveillance cameras to form a unified evidence management platform that preserves the chain of custody.

In-Car Video System

Just launched, i-PRO’s ICV4000 takes in-car video technology into the future with a powerful new video processing unit (VPU4000), wireless networking, new security features, and improved image quality. The system employs MPEG-4 recording, eliminating the need for proprietary media devices to provide a more streamlined approach to reviewing and sharing video. The ICV4000 also employs advanced security features, such as SSD drive lock and AES/256 data encryption at rest, which ensures that evidence data is completely secure and cannot be accessed or forcibly removed by unauthorized parties.

With several options for front-end cameras, the ICV4000 features 1080p Full HD recording along with a wider field of view and multiple optical/digital zoom levels. Additionally, the system incorporates embedded Bluetooth (BLE) and two wireless LAN modules to support seamless integration with i-PRO’s BWC4000. The ICV4000’s consolidated system design combines multiple features, which makes installation easier, faster, and more economical.

Unified Digital Evidence Software

With i-PRO body-worn cameras and in-car systems providing a wealth of video evidence, it is essential to have UDE software that keeps files organized and easily accessible. i-PRO’s UDE system puts compliance and evidence documentation on autopilot. Preset policies can be programmed to trigger camera recording and authorize permissions to view and edit files and file archives, which transforms policies into operating rules to automatically enforce compliance.

CloUDE is i-PROs cloud-hosted management solution for digital evidence. CloUDE helps agencies streamline operations while protecting both the data itself and the privacy of the individuals involved in incidents. This innovative solution seamlessly integrates with i-PRO’s industry-leading body-worn cameras and in-vehicle camera systems, allowing law enforcement agencies to retain complete ownership of all evidence and metadata.

CloUDE allows law enforcement personnel to gather digital evidence from a variety of sources and easily store, manage, review, and share it from within a single application. Cases and digital evidence can be shared with different parties, and access is controlled through security policies managed in the application. Additionally, audit trails log all user actions to maintain chain of custody and are available for management review at any time. CloUDE allows law enforcement agencies to specify what information they want to store in the cloud based on their specific policies, needs, and budgets. Accessible to agencies of all sizes, CloUDE can effectively reduce the amount of time and money spent on evidence management with complete confidence that all critical data is secure.

Redaction Software

Responding to the increasing volume of FOIA requests can consume a tremendous amount of manpower at a time when agency budgets are more pressed than ever. i-PRO redaction software automates the redaction process, reducing up to 90 percent of the manual effort of uploading, storing, searching, editing, and sharing sensitive content. i-PRO’s software provides strict, secure, multi-user management with critical editing capabilities and is available with scalable options to meet a wide range of budgets.

More Than Just Technology

In addition to providing the latest technologies for law enforcement applications, i-PRO’s Secure Cities program delivers an extensive range of support mechanisms to assist with the selection, procurement, deployment, and maintenance of a comprehensive system solution. The Secure Cities initiative is backed by i-PRO’s team of seasoned law enforcement technology experts to help local government officials navigate all the information and personalized support they need to enhance their law enforcement agency’s imaging and evidence management capabilities. The Secure Cities initiative is an important and exclusive component of i-PRO’s comprehensive imaging and evidence management system solution offering that is specifically designed for the new age of law enforcement.

For more information, visit https://publicsafety.i-pro.com.