The region’s biggest rainstorm in seven years slammed Orange County in January of this year, flooding roads, triggering mudslides, submerging vehicles and causing dozens of traffic accidents. The series of torrential downpours prompted the Santa Ana Police Department to activate its Emergency Operations Center. The Emergency Operations Center is part of the SAPD’s Homeland Security Division, but works with Orange County Fire Authority, Orange County’s Emergency Management Division, Santa Ana Unified School District, the American Red Cross, and other departments and agencies in surrounding cities to provide the highest level of preparedness and coordination when disaster strikes. Keeping Santa Ana safe requires shared visibility of common areas and high-profile critical infrastructure locations such as transit, energy and public utilities.
 
The SAPD Emergency Operations Center morphed from two main workstations in separate offices displaying surveillance system cameras on four large screens primarily designed to monitor the perimeter of the Police Administration Building to a Hiperwall-driven command center with nine 55-inch NEC, thin bezel, commercial-grade displays. The SAPD did not have a “true” video wall or visualization system in place prior to installing a Hiperwall-driven system which includes IP cameras, an enterprise-class network management system and a new fiber-optic backbone. 
 
Knowing they needed a level of preparedness for potential disasters, the SAPD began reviewing LED video wall solutions for a command center. The SAPD ultimately chose Hiperwall because it was designed specifically for large display surfaces – it was a true visualization system. But more importantly, it gave the SAPD the centralized capability for displaying infinite data sources that could be viewed and managed effectively and easily. The Hiperwall visualization solution allows the Emergency Operations Center to receive any number of feeds from the 300-plus city-wide cameras, display the SAPD CAD system, National Weather Service satellite imagery, several social media channels, helicopter downlink video, SAPD video cameras, local news and much more.
 
In addition, their visualization system includes video content analytics to detect policy driven situations such as motion in restricted areas, loitering, overcrowding in public places, and more. Hiperwall seamlessly integrates access control and physical security systems allowing alarms and programmed events to be jointly managed.  
 
During the winter storm, the SAPD Emergency Operations Center powered by Hiperwall became the command and control room video wall for the city’s agencies to monitor the city-wide cameras, satellite weather changes in real-time, city maps from Google Earth to view flood damage, traffic accidents, 911 calls, fire/EMS, and public works. All three city departments were in the Emergency Operations Center using the Hiperwall visualization system to collaborate which allowed them to be more efficient in resource management, triage calls and managing response times during the storm.
 
After discovering Hiperwall with all its capabilities, the SAPD stopped evaluating other video wall systems. Not only was Hiperwall an advanced visualization solution, it provided the SAPD the latest in technology and best practices for their Emergency Operations Center. It gave them a cost-effective solution that will grow with them. The Hiperwall software-centric solution requires only ordinary PCs, monitors, and a standard Ethernet network making Hiperwall a more affordable visualization system than traditional video wall technology. It’s ease of operation also expedited the training process, which effectively reduced manpower and operational costs.  
 
Having a single location to gather and share information with those in the field and make risk mitigating decisions keeps the Santa Ana community safe. The incident will always dictate the necessary feeds and data requirements, but the SAPD is now prepared with their Hiperwall-driven Emergency Operations Center to manage or co-manage any situation.

 

Managing instantaneous information flow across a company to mitigate public relations disasters and effectively control crisis situations is extremely important in our digital age. An executive command and control room with multiple feeds of information that includes real time social media and broadcast news stations can be utilized to control and reduce the effect of reputation-damaging events and emergencies. Not having a platform to gather and review streams of information or to collaborate with officials onsite hinders a company’s ability to make risk mitigating decisions.
 
A command and control room would give any executive a significant advantage during large events and/or emergencies. It would allow them to assess numerous video feeds, news stations, social media activities, situational feeds of information, employee FaceTime feeds, security feeds, shared airport command center content in real time as well as standard and customized applications used to organize the information and collaborate before making a decision. Monitoring social media activity on a LED video wall is extremely beneficial for gathering intelligence on tweets and other communications to help diffuse incorrect information as quickly as possible. When utilized correctly, a video wall allows for a complete visualization of the magnitude of a situation and can significantly alter the way a company chooses to respond to an event.
 
During times of non-emergencies, the video wall can be used for business proposals, training and debriefings. Business proposal and training materials such as videos, online resources and PowerPoint presentations can be elegantly displayed on the video wall system and multiple feeds can expedite and improve the debriefing process.
 
Every company stands to benefit from having a centralized executive command and control center to monitor and control the company’s security and information flow. It is an integral asset that improves visual situational awareness and resolves inefficiencies within numerous levels of a company. It is unmatched in emergency situations in providing the most up-to-date information that enables strategic decision making and provides seamless collaboration between executives, upper management teams, operators and first responders.