Fight Crime by Registering your Surveillance Cameras with WatchKC

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By Gina Stuelke, CEO of Kenton Brothers, talking about the WatchKC security camera initiative.

Kenton Brothers: WatchKC ProgramThe Kansas City Police Department is taking a proactive and innovative approach to deterring and investigating crime. It’s called WatchKC.

If you want to help KCPD in this proactive approach, you could play a major part in the identification of suspects and evidence of crimes. Do you or your business own a surveillance camera? Then you can be part of the solution to crime in our city. If you don’t yet have cameras but are interested in learning more, give Kenton Brothers Systems for Security a call at 816-842-3700. We’ll share our years of experience with you to find the best solution that meets your needs.

The WatchKC Program

Similar programs have been implemented by other agencies across the nation with great success. The registration process is simple, and available to any home or business located in Kansas City, Missouri.

Video Surveillance is a great crime deterrent and offers investigative leads in the event a crime does occur. Many homes and businesses have surveillance cameras installed. Often, the surveillance system might catch something useful. The footage could be very helpful when KCPD is investigating crimes. However, it may go unnoticed if the owner is unaware of the crime.

Kenton Brothers: WatchKC City MapOnce registered with WatchKC, camera locations will be mapped for detectives. These camera maps make it easy for police officers to identify a potential camera with footage they can use during an investigation. If a crime happens near a KC Watch registered camera, they can  contact the registrant to see if any video evidence was captured. Someone from KCPD will then arrange to obtain the footage at a time that is convenient.

Note: KCPD would never have access to footage without your knowledge. Participation is 100% voluntary and you can opt out at any time.

Registration

If you would like to participate in the program and partner with KCPD to help solve crimes, start by filling out the online form. All information provided will be for official use only and will remain confidential and not shared with anyone outside of the KCPD.

Kenton Brothers has been in the Crossroads District for 120 years. We offer all types of security locking hardware, access control and video surveillance systems to protect your people, property and possessions.  Let us know if we can help your business.

Can I get a license plate with that?

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This is the number one question asked when we demo our security cameras. Typically, we’re showing cameras to a client or prospective client because investing in video cameras is often a visual decision. Usually, we’re set up outdoors and looking at a parking lot shot. An example is this image of our parking lot. Our parking lot is relatively small, so sometimes we’re able to capture a license plate as we’ll see a bit later.

License Plate

When discussing whether or not we can get a license plate in the shot, I go into all the things that make a license plate capture possible.

Resolution

In the security industry, we’ve settled on a measure that reflects the pixel quality of the image. It’s called pixels per foot or PPF.

PPF is a calculation of the horizontal pixels of the image divided by the horizontal distance that is being covered by the camera at a given distance from the camera. That might seem a bit technical, but the nice thing is that it’s a measure our industry agrees on so that we’re all talking the same language!

PPF Example

The resolution of the camera, the distance an object is from the camera and the width of the cameras view all affect the PPF. So to increase the ability of a camera to capture a license plate, we should mount the camera as close as possible to the area or subject we’re trying to capture. It’s also important to narrow the view of the camera as tightly as possible and use a suitable resolution to fit the job.

Typically if we’re using a camera to capture license plates, we would start by reducing the field of view to only one or 2 lanes of traffic, not a wide angle like in the shot of our parking lot shown above.

You can see from this next shot that we were able to capture a license plate, even though the camera has a wide angle. This is mostly because the plate is so close to the camera and the truck is moving slowly. The PPF here is about 99 PPF.

License Plate

The angle of the plate to the camera

In order to capture a good license plate image, we want the plate to be as square to the lens as in the image above. As the vehicle angles away from the camera we’ll have a harder time capturing the license plate.

As we can see in the image below, The PPF is only slightly less than before, but we weren’t able to capture the license plate.

License Plate

Usually, making sure we’re as square as possible to the plate is at odds with being as close to the plate as possible (mentioned earlier.) Mounting on the curb is usually closer, but at a steeper angle to the plate.

Lighting

The camera, much like our own eye, has to adjust to lighting changes. Because cars are typically moving, the camera has a hard time adjusting to the lighting conditions in enough time to see a license plate. In the night shot example below, the plate is almost square to the camera, but we’re farther away, and the brake license plate lights are washing out the plate. (Generally, the lower resolution cameras also have better light response and wider dynamic range. These would increase the ability to capture license plates but are counter to the resolution needs we identified earlier.)

License Plate

There are several models of cameras that capture license plates using different methods including infrared, flash lighting and high frame rates. However, these application specific cameras will not provide an overview of the parking lot at the same time.

So, “Can I get a license plate with that?”

The answer is maybe… If you want a camera that shows other details like the color of the car and an overview of your parking lot, then there are steps you can take to increase the ability of license plate capture by balancing the resolution angle and lighting. If you want a camera that only captures license plates, then an application specific camera is the way to go!

Need help with your specific application? Give us a call!

The Stick.

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The StickOne of the product and service lines we offer is video surveillance. Each installation is different, and the most important part of any video system is what the end result will provide. Getting the right view can be difficult; some scenes are not lit very well, or at all. Others have shade and bright sunlight in the same scene. Sometimes the camera is far away from what it needs to be able to see, other times we might want to see 360 degrees (all the way around!). Does the camera need to see what is generally going on, or do we need to be able to identify a car or person in the scene?

Fortunately, there are many types of cameras, each with different capabilities and appearances. Unfortunately, they are hard to tell apart on paper. The differences of specifications on cameras can be mind boggling. Camera vendors have trademarked features that are unique to their products such as Dark Fighter™ and Light Finder™. Even features that seem to be the same like “Wide Dynamic Range” cannot really be compared between camera models without seeing them in action.

That’s where the “Stick” comes to the rescue.

The StickKenton Brothers has assembled a mobile video system that allows us to bring our cameras to your location. That way, you can see what the camera views are going to look like in real-time in your environment. The Stick can position cameras at about the same height as they would be installed at. This allows cameras to be compared side-by-side and help determine what technologies are best for your situation.

The stick can also help with camera placement and determine how many camera are needed to cover an area. All camera video is recorded locally, allowing it to be reviewed by customer and installer alike.

If you have a need for video security, regardless of scope, let us know. We would love to bring the Stick to your location and show you what is possible!

Kenton Brothers helps the City of Grandview install security cameras at their new amphitheater.

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GrandviewAmpKenton Brothers helps the City of Grandview install security cameras a their new amphitheater.

 

Grandview Amphitheater is just one of many examples of cities going above and beyond to involve their community in the arts. The Grandview Parks and Recreation built an event space in 2014 that has the capacity to entertain 8,000 guests. These amphitheaters engross citizens and surrounding areas in music and create a space for people to come together, and enjoy a common interest. Kenton Brothers had the opportunity to secure that feeling of community, with an advanced security system that helps fun goers to focus on the show and the City of Grandview Amphitheater to feel protected. Kenton Brothers installed a series of high resolution video cameras, throughout the Amphitheater, which help protect against any unwanted emergency situations. Kenton Brothers was thorough to ensure that the space is kept safe with a series of dome, wall mount, and corner camera systems. This technology driven camera system helps to make sure the entire area is kept safe, allowing citizens to check their worries at the door.

Check out their website here: Grandview Ampitheater