StorageCraft for Law Enforcement Surveillance Solutions Agencies USA

Wanted: a solution to the growing storage capacity and management problems at law enforcement agencies around the U.S.

As agencies increasingly deploy body-worn cameras (BWCs) and dash cams to better protect and serve their communities, they encounter a significant obstacle: the high cost, complexity and compliance of storing video surveillance footage. StorageCraft Technology Corporation is addressing this challenge with a solution that meets the storage demands of law enforcement surveillance.

The number of police departments mandated to deploy BWCs is rising quickly. A recent nationwide survey by the Major Cities Chiefs Association and Major County Sheriffs’ Association shows that 95% of the large police departments surveyed are either using body cameras now or are committed to using them ^[1]. But when they switch the cameras on, departments are getting an unpleasant surprise. They’re finding that storing all those hours of video puts significant strain on their budgets for storage.

“And the problem is growing, because new body and stat,video surveillance cameras are now recording high-definition video,” said Shridar Subramanian, VP, marketing and product management, StorageCraft. “The resulting video files are much larger and even more expensive to store. Law enforcement agencies are facing a real wake-up call. They are quickly outgrowing their existing storage and scrambling to meet far greater requirements.“

In fact, many agencies end up with many independent storage silos, all managed and accessed separately. This is not a scalable model, especially given the exponential rate at which body cam and static surveillance video is growing. What’s more, states have begun to implement minimum retention times for body cam and surveillance video in certain circumstances, which further drives up storage costs. In Texas, for example, the law states that policies for use of body worn cameras must require the retention of video for at least 90 days ^[2].

All these factors are coming together to create a perfect storm of video sprawl and runaway storage costs.

That’s why the company introduced StorageCraft for Law Enforcement – a game-changing solution that is:

• Cost-effective. Where other storage products on the market can cost hundreds of thousands over time, the company’s solution starts at a fraction of that cost. The firm’s customers experience significant savings in storage costs and increase their video retention ability.

• Highly scalable. The company’s solution is flexible and scalable. Law enforcement agencies can start with ten terabytes of storage and scale up to petabytes in the same cluster. They can add any number of drives, anytime and in any granularity, to meet their storage requirements. And, when they expand their available storage capacity there is zero configuration and no application downtime.

• Easy to manage and replicate. With the firm’s solution, setting up remote replication is as simple as three mouse clicks. In under 15 minutes, a law enforcement agency can have a DR infrastructure installed and replicating. In fact, the software is architected to make storage management and remote replication easy and efficient, without the need for high-level IT expertise.

With the company’s solution, law enforcement agencies can better serve citizens and bring greater transparency to their communities-all while keeping their storage budgets under tight jurisdiction.

An entry-level configuration costs less than $17,000, including 96TB of storage. The solution can be installed and available in less than 15 minutes. As more storage is required, users add drives and the capacity dynamically expands the same global file system without interrupting applications or users. The company’s multi-site replication feature means that in the event of failure, recovery can be achieved in minutes.

StorageCraft for Law Enforcement is already deployed at several law enforcement agencies throughout the U.S., including Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, in Camden, NJ.

^[1] 95% of large police departments responding to a nationwide survey are either using body cameras now or are committed to using them. Source: Major Cities Chiefs Association and Major County Sheriffs’ Association.   
^[2] BWC surveillance retention policy.