Police & Security Expo Brings New Advances in Safety
Earlier this week our business development team attended the 17th annual Midwest Security & Police Expo in Tinley Park. The expo featured a range of products and services offered to the security industry with a focus on municipalities. Sponsored by the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, we saw products ranging from bullet proof vests to body cameras, drones, industrial lights and sirens, and even psychological training advancements.
As Beyond Design has begun to dive into the security industry, we have seen a demand for helpful, effective, and innovative products in the security and safety world. The timeliness of the Expo and where Beyond would like to expand our business gave us great insight into the steps our designers should take with new products and thinking.
Below are some highlights from the show:
Body & Dash Cameras
We saw some great body and dash cam video products at the expo from Watch Guard Video. The video and evidence management powerhouse currently supplies video solutions to almost 1/3rd of all law enforcement agencies in the United States and Canada. Their Vista wearable cameras record for up to 9 hours in HD and conveniently lock to the chest mount on an officer. They seamlessly integrate with the other products in the Vista family like the 4RE in-car video recordings and it pairs as an additional camera view. This provides a well rounded and full scope view of an officer’s activity.
Image sources: Watchguard (L) and Hendon Publishing (R).
Beyond Design visited the Watchguard booth to check out their body and dash cams.
Federal Signal Lights & Sirens
We saw familiar faces at the Expo this year and visited our client, Federal Signal, at their exhibitor booth. They showcased their signaling solutions product lines which included lights and sirens for police and security vehicles as well as speakers. The polished LED light bars have a “stealthy appearance” perfect for police cars keeping a low profile. The sirens were diverse and multi functional – compatible with both police/security vehicles and ambulances and durable enough to take on extreme weather conditions. All the product specifications and features can be found on their police products page where all item features and specifications are listed in more detail. We enjoyed seeing this different side of Federal Signal and their contributions to the security industry!
Image source: Federal Signal.
Fail-Safe HD Evidence
We also visited the Coban team at their booth and compared their touch screen Fusion HD in-car-video products. Their Fusion HD has been implemented into over 12, 400 in-car digital video systems across the nation – including Chicago PD and LAPD. The Fusion video system adheres to the indoor roof of the car and can be moved between different vehicles. The video solution is “similar to a black box on an airplane [and the] Coban Fail-safe technology continuously records to the internal drive.” As the need for video evidence grows and becomes absolutely necessary, Coban’s Fusion offers sound coverage that will ensure valuable and reliable video coverage.
“In a mission critical environment Coban offers officer safety, efficiency, and trust.”
Designing Safety Structures for Tomorrow
We also saw a strong presence from interior designers and architects at the Expo. BKV Group provide interior design, engineering and landscape architecture solutions for police stations and law enforcement centers. As police and security stations tend to endure public spaces for long periods of time they are faced with the challenge of changing with their environments. BKV designs spaces that can stand the test of time both aesthetically and functionally. Below is the award winning Edina Police station in the greater Minneapolis area. It spans 87,000 square feet and has won multiple awards for its sleek and modern design. BKV also designs structures for fire stations, city halls, court houses, libraries, and senior living among others.
Image source: BKV Group
With only one day at the expo we got a quick rundown of the advancements the security industry is making to ensure safer and more reliable measures for our police and pubic safety members. With unlimited recording in dash cams to long lasting police structures and powerful and striking police sirens – the police and security industries are making strides in the effort to keep their communities safe and procedures and tactics innovative. For a look at Beyond Design’s work in similar sectors please check out our Work page and follow us on Twitter for blog updates.
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