The Associated Press
Durham, N.C. Police have a new high-tech tool that they hope will help them save lives and apprehend criminals during a bank robbery.
The Police Department and banks are teaming in a pilot crime-fighting program to use digital video and wireless surveillance technology so officers can see what is happening inside a bank before they arrive.
Currently, officers who are are sent to the scene of a bank robbery typically have no idea of what is going on inside the building.
The new technology will allow police to see inside the bank when an alarm is activated, via a video feed at the 911 call center and on the laptops in their patrol cars.
It allows police to know in seconds what the scene looks like, said police Capt. Ed Sarvis.
“Now we can respond faster and save precious minutes to potentially help to save lives and to eventually bring crime down in Durham,” Sarvis said.
The Cardinal State Bank branch is Durham’s first to adopt the new technology.
Another bank has expressed interest in the program, said Barry Pulliam, president of Spectrum Network Technologies, which supplies the system.
Wendy Wagner, chief operations officer and security officer at Cardinal State Bank, said the system protects customer and employee privacy while ensuring safety because the feed is sent only after an alarm is activated.
The bank was robbed about six months ago, she said, and the system could have helped.
The pilot program is offered in part by Spectrum Network Technologies and by Verint, the company that provided the software. It’s free for now; the police and participating banks will decide in a few months whether they want to continue.
A company spokesman said the cost for each patrol car could run anywhere from $800 to $1,000 and Pulliam said the cost for each bank branch could be from $5,000 to $10,000.
Pulliam said only one patrol car has the technology so far. The company hopes to eventually make it an almost-standard feature.
There have been four bank robberies and two attempted robberies in Durham this year.