Watching the Watchers

Magnus Frater in its natural habitat

About two months ago I was driving to Southpoint from my home and noticed a camera mounted on a telephone pole where Barbee Road crosses over I-40.  Hmmm, interesting – what’s that doing there?  It seems that these cameras were installed all along I-40 by the North Carolina Department of Transportation, with the purpose of monitoring traffic as part of North Carolina’s Intelligent Transportation System initiative.  You can see some of the views from the cameras at NCDOT Travel Information and the WRAL Traffic Camera site.  Pretty cool.

Then, while doing research on these cameras, I ran across this.

Durham’s 911 Center Now Links to NCDOT Traffic Cameras

Center Can Now View 200 Cameras on All Major Durham Roads

Durham, N.C. – Durham motorists in distress can now take comfort that more than just good Samaritans passing by can send help thanks to a new partnership that grants the City of Durham access to more than 200 cameras on all of Durham’s major roadways.

The Durham Emergency Communications Center (DECC), in cooperation with the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) and the City’s Department of Public Works, now has a direct link to all of the NCDOT’s cameras in the Durham area.

According to James Soukup, director of the DECC, this new capability allows 911 telecommunicators to monitor accident scenes first-hand.  “Whenever there is an incident near a traffic camera, we can switch to that location and monitor what is occurring,” Soukup said.  “The zoom capability is outstanding.  We can read license plates and look inside cars to see if someone appears to be in distress and send the appropriate help accordingly.”

Now in the DECC, four, 40-inch monitors scan approximately 200 NCDOT cameras on all major Durham roads.  “We have the ability to pan, tilt and zoom in on each camera and monitor four different roads at any given time,” Soukup said.  “I want our motorists to know that our telecommunicators can now directly monitor accidents that can be seen by these cameras and send appropriate help.  In the past, we’ve had to rely heavily on other motorists giving calm and accurate descriptions of an accident situation and location.  Now, we’ll be able to see many of these incidents ourselves, which can speed up emergency responses significantly.”

According to Soukup, since the link to the NCDOT cameras was installed in October, his operators have already been able to take action quicker than in the past.  “Since having access to these cameras, we recently witnessed an accident where a vehicle flipped off the roadway and were able to dispatch emergency vehicles before anyone even contacted us,” Soukup said.  “These cameras have also helped us determine the correct jurisdiction for dispatching help for another accident that occurred near the county line.”

The NCDOT linked their camera network to the DECC at no cost to the City.  For more information about the new camera monitoring system in the DECC, contact Soukup at (919) 560-4191 or by e-mail at james.soukup@durhamnc.gov.

About Durham Emergency Communications Center
The Durham Emergency Communications Center (DECC) is dedicated to providing Durham’s citizens with the fastest and most efficient response to emergency calls possible while insuring the safety of police, fire and EMS personnel.  The DECC provides 24-hour, seven-day-a-week 911 access to citizens and user agencies in and around Durham County.  To learn more about DECC, visit the City’s Web site at www.durhamnc.gov/departments/911/.

Nifty! Wait … what?  Read that again:

“The zoom capability is outstanding.  We can read license plates and look inside cars to see if someone appears to be in distress and send the appropriate help accordingly.”

“We have the ability to pan, tilt and zoom in on each camera and monitor four different roads at any given time,” Soukup said.

So … there are now high-resolution surveillance cameras observing all major Durham roads, with the capability of looking inside cars and reading license plates.  Along I-40 and I-85 the coverage is practically complete, almost with line-of-sight from each camera to the next.  They clearly can be pointed in any direction, which means they observe not only the highway, but also the roadways crossing the highway where they are placed, and anything else within range.

Also note that the NCDOT linked the DECC into the system for no cost.  This implies two things: One, it’s probably fairly cheap to do it, and two, the system is probably set up to allow a number of people to access it at the same time. This definitely bears further research.