Once a user has a layout, they can dynamically adjust something via a video window and drill down by sources to the 200 input options and make adjustments, including standard mode and emergency modes.
The panel also allows the user to search by local sources, jurisdiction and keyword from hundreds of sources.
Other features include eight traffic monitoring positions; 14 dispatch work stations with capacity for 11 more; a new E-911 telephone system; signal lab and traffic monitoring system; state-of-the-art IT data center; two emergency generators; and two uninterruptible power supply systems.
“During the design, we had an idea of what they wanted,” says design engineer Aziz Bou Chaaya, “but we had to custom-build the cubes to make it how they wanted it. With four different departments under one roof, they all have their own needs and need their own solutions.”
The biggest challenge, says Box, was “making it so any user can walk up to a 24-inch touchscreen and find what they want.” The programming allows users to sort by list and keyword and brings more than 300 video sources together. “You have to take the complicated and make it easy.”
Bou Chaaya agrees, saying, “In an emergency, you can’t be struggling to find what you need. You have to be able to push one button and be right where you need to be.”
Box was impressed with how all the trade groups worked so effectively together on this project, saying that doesn’t always happen that everyone gets along and helps each other succeed. Bou Chaaya notes there were no real concerns about the budget and, in fact, BlueWater finished its work under the original budget anyway.
“They wanted it to be state-of-the-art, so they didn’t cut corners,” he says.
Since wrapping up the COMTEC project, BlueWater secured a job that’s a partnership between the Detroit Police Department and Department of Homeland Security that they earned as a direct result of this project. They’re also bidding on another large-scale project that could match COMTEC in size and scope.
“We’re no strangers to large multimillion dollar contracts,” says Box.
