Dean A. Vietri, Director of Safety Operations for Wilmington, Delaware's downtown business improvement district, offers a hard-knock lesson for other municipalities installing a surveillance system, a lesson he believes will "save other cities a lot of money." Mid-way through Wilmington's Video Safety Network project — a public-private cooperative aimed at covering the city's entire downtown with surveillance cameras — Vietri realized standard housings wouldn't be able to do the job.  "At one point, we were getting ready to install 16 new cameras, and four of them were destroyed even before they went online," Vietri says. In the city's high-crime area, criminals were shooting the cameras or knocking them off the poles, determined to do away with the eyes on crime. Here's Vietri's lesson: "Make sure that you start out with bullet-resistant equipment."  

Wilmington didn't start out with bullet-resistant equipment, and is instead replacing original units with Videolarm's patented DeputyDome™, the only bullet-resistant dome camera system on the market today. "They've ordered 16 DeputyDomes and continue to order more, replacing the other manufacturer's standard domes as they are shot up," says Marc Faubert, a Videolarm Technical Engineer. And what happens to the DeputyDome™ when it's shot? "It works perfectly," Vietri says. "I had one camera shot nine times in two days, and it's still working fine." To watch (or download) actual footage of a criminal shooting the DeputyDome™, click here. In some areas of the project, Videolarm's vandal-resistant dome system is being used. Says Vietri: "Videolarm has done a wonderful job at making their equipment completely compatible with our current system. And the technology is amazing. I have one camera that can see 17 blocks, because of where it's placed."

Wilmington now has almost 100 cameras watching its streets. Since the system was first installed in April 2001, the city has made over 600 arrests, and "not one has gone to court because everyone pleads out," Vietri says. Of the city's 20 homicides in 2006, the video safety system provided useful footage for ten of them. "We're making arrests, and we're displacing crime," Vietri says. "Our hope is to displace criminals right out of the city." Vietri says he wishes such a system existed during his 23 years as a police officer and 8 years in the Wilmington Drug Unit.  "I think it's the finest example I've seen of effective community policing." Wilmington's system has served as a benchmark for other cities to mirror. Currently, the staff of Downtown Visions is assisting Philadelphia, Chester (PA) and Atlantic City (NJ) in their efforts to create a successful video safety program.

Can't Touch This!

• We're not making this up, folks. Click here to watch (or download) an actual video of the DeputyDome™ getting shot at by a determined inner city street criminal.

Resources:

• For specifics on Videolarm's DeputyDome™, go to http://www.videolarm.com/family_item.jsp?content=29&model=16681.
• For its vandal-resistant dome camera system, check out http://www.videolarm.com/family_item.jsp?content=125&model=17076. 
• For more information on Wilmington's Downtown Visions' Video Safety Project, visit http://www.downtownvisions.org/videosafety.php.