`
February 26, 2003
GovPro Newsletter
Null
Wednesday, February 26, 2003 Volume 2, Issue 6 Welcome to the GovPro Newsletter brought to you by the Penton Government Media Group. Look forward to news, resources, product and supplier information, and links relating to the government market. You have received this e-newsletter because you are a subscriber to Government Product News or Government PROcurement Journal. If this message was sent in error or you wish to unsubscribe, see the unsubscribe information below.
CONTENTS
Berkeley Board Meetings By Internet False Alarms Arrested ANSI Adds NSF Wanted: Transportation Topics News of the Weird
FEATURES
CITY OPTIMIZES INFO ACCESS AND LOWERS COSTS
The City of Berkeley, CA, has implemented a new streaming media management and distribution solution that reduces costs across all City departments, while increasing community and employee access to information.
Using an enterprise solution, Berkeley publishes indexed video of weekly city council meetings and other public information pieces to community members and city employees over the Internet. This initiative has decreased the costs of responding to incoming requests for city council meeting information, while increasing video publishing turnaround time by up to 75%. The system is also expected to reduce costs and increase availability of Berkeley's internal training and public education videos.
"Our implementation is much more cost-effective and comprehensive than in-house alternatives," said Weldon Rucker, Berkeley's City Manager
"We have saved staff time and improved customer service during a time of fiscal constraint by giving website visitors 24x7 access to information," said Donna LaSala, E-Government Manager, City of Berkeley. "This is a great example of how technology should be used to increase civic participation and make local government more effective."
Berkeley chose the solution, from Granicus, a provider of streaming media solutions to local government, because it is designed specifically for city and county governments and meets specific public sector needs. Particularly beneficial to Berkeley is a group of unique features that automates the creation of a searchable index with "jump points" based on agenda items for each video archive. The resulting searchable index has proven crucial for city council meetings, which can run 4-6 hours in length. The searchable index is a benefit to community members and city staff who refer to meeting archives for clarification of City issues.
Another feature critical in Berkeley's decision to select the company, intelligent video routing, eliminates the bandwidth issues traditionally associated with streaming media by intelligently leveraging internal and external streaming servers to distribute streaming media requests. As a result, traffic for streaming media never affects Berkeley's existing Internet connectivity no matter how great the demand.
The City of Berkeley video Web site: http://www.cityofberkeley.info/video integrated video and document files for each live or archived meeting and additional public education videos. Each video is indexed, allowing browsers to jump to the relevant portion of the meeting quickly, and have all pertaining documents at their fingertips on demand. Prior to implementation of this system, the public would request the video from the city clerk, with an average turnaround of 48-hours.
CITY REDUCES FALSE ALARM RESPONSES
In the United States in 1998, police responded to approximately 38 million alarm activations, at an estimated annual cost of $1.5 billion. Most of the activations were burglar alarms, which proved to be between 98 to 99% false. In the United States alone, solving the problem of false alarms would by itself relieve 35,000 officers from providing an essentially private service.
The Salt Lake City Police Department has solved this burden on our department with the Verified Response Alarm Program. The alarm companies are required to verify an automatic alarm signal via an eyewitness before an officer is dispatched. Should the private guard discover an open door or broken window, an officer is dispatched to the scene as a high priority. Officers are no longer responding on alarms caused by cleaning crews, kids, cats, dogs and balloons. Police continue to respond to the human activated alarms such as robbery, panic and duress.
Alarm response decreased dramatically by 90%. We experienced a decrease in high priority calls for service response times. Burglaries decreased during the first year of implementation. Burglaries the second year increased by 3%. An in-depth study of 2001 burglary cases revealed some shoplifting and larceny cases were included in the burglary count. Burglary cases separated from these other cases for 2001 indicated a 1.9% decrease.
This program has been a win-win for our citizens, alarm companies, and the police department since it became ordinance in 2000, says Chief Charles F. "Rick" Dinse, Salt Lake City Police Department. Citizens are receiving a much faster response to their alarm signal from the private guard companies for an additional $5.00 per month to their monitoring account. Police officers can now be redirected to actual public safety needs.
Salt Lake City was a winner in the Herman Goldstein Award for Excellence in Problem Oriented Policing and the International Chiefs of Police - Webber Seavey Award in 2001 for the Verified Response Program. We are currently a semi-finalist in the "Innovations in American Government" award sponsored by Harvard University.
Las Vegas Metro Police Department began Verified Response in 1991 and also achieved a 90% reduction in alarm responses. False alarms are a national problem for police, with some departments utilizing 25 - 30% of their patrol resources on a call, which are predictably 98 to 99% false. Eight other cities currently practice Verified Response, fifty-three cities are moving in this direction, and a national awareness has begun with police departments to shift the burden of false alarms to the industry that created the problem and has the ability to solve it.
NEWS
ANSI SURVEY RECOGNIZES NSF STANDARDS
NSF International, The Public Health and Safety Company(tm), receives recognition for the national voluntary public health and safety standards developed through its processes. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) recently launched an online survey asking the standards community to identify standards that play a critical role in enhancing business competitiveness and in improving societal issues such as safety, health and the quality of life. The response to the survey was overwhelming; numerous NSF standards were recognized. For a complete summary of responses, please see survey results at http://public.ansi.org/ansionline/Documents/News%20and%20Publications/Other%20Documents/StandardsSurveyResults.ppt Focusing on food, water, indoor air and the environment, NSF standards are developed by committees and working groups representing the interest of all stakeholders. These primary stakeholder groups include industry, the regulatory community and the public at large.
"We are proud to have so many NSF/ANSI Standards recognized for the value they bring to society," said Jim Kendzel, Vice President, Administration. "NSF thanks the many volunteers who come together representing industry, regulators, consumers and other interest groups to ensure protection of public health and safety through the documents they develop. NSF is continuously committed to assist in the development of such standards to meet society's needs."
"Standards play a major role in many aspects of our daily lives-from decisions consumers make when purchasing products for their homes, to broader societal issues such as how we preserve the environment; from the competitive concerns of business in a global marketplace, to the government's role in protecting the public interest," explained Dr. Mark W. Hurwitz, ANSI President and CEO. "The 'Standards That Make A Difference' survey acts as a vehicle to bring additional awareness and publicity of the important work being done by the standards community."
TRANSIT RESEARCH GROUP SEEKS STUDY TOPICS
The Transit Cooperative Research Program, an organization that provides free research tools for the transportation industry, is currently seeking suggestions for topics to be considered for two ongoing research programs - TCRP Reports and TCRP Syntheses. Submittals, accepted from anyone with an interest in addressing problems facing the transit industry, will be evaluated by panels of industry and TCRP experts who will make recommendations on which topics are worthy of funding for further study.
The deadline for submitting suggestions for TCRP Reports - typically more in-depth studies that are released in the form of handbooks, design manuals or CD-ROMS - is June 15. They should be made in the form of "problem statements" that identify areas such as the research objective, research proposed, estimates on research period and funding required, urgency, and relationship to the strategic goals and policy initiatives of the Federal Transit Administration and to TCRP's strategic priorities.
Problem statements can be submitted via the Internet using a form located at http://www.apta.com/tcrp . Statements can also be submitted via email to tcrp@nas.edu. NEWS OF THE WEIRD
Bizarre but true stories about real people. ht/tp://www.govpro.com/GPRONewsletter/Article/?
LINKS
Safety Storage manufactures prefabricated heavy-gage steel products and custom engineered building systems. Visit: http://www.safetystorage.com/
C & H Distributors provide a fast, efficient way to purchase shelving, cabinets, packaging and shipping products, or office furniture. Visit: http://www.chdist.com/govt
Meyer is the world leader in snow plows plus accessories, parts, spreaders, and controls for plows. Custom-designed Meyer snow plows fit exact vehicle frame and weight specifications for exceptional performance in all applications. http://www.meyerproducts.com
PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT
Air Rover Co.: Portable air conditioners. http://www.airrover.com
Baysaver: Stormwater treatment systems. http://www.baysaver.com
Stellar Industries: Hydraulic hooklift loaders. http://www.hooklift.com
R.J. Thomas Mfg. Co.: Park Equipment. http://www.pilotrock.com
Vixen Hill: Gazebos and other cedar products. http://www.vixenhill.com
Find information on advertising in the GovPro Newsletter on http://www.govpro.com or contact rhowlett@penton.com.
You may qualify for a FREE Magazine Subscription
Complimentary subscriptions to Government Product News, a product-driven resource, and Government PROcurement, editorial targeting the public sector purchasing professional are available to those who qualify. To subscribe to Government Product News visit: http://www.submag.com/sub/gn To subscribe to Government Procurement visit: http://www.submag.com/sub/gp Copyright 2003 Penton Media, Inc.
CONTENTS
Berkeley Board Meetings By Internet False Alarms Arrested ANSI Adds NSF Wanted: Transportation Topics News of the Weird
FEATURES
CITY OPTIMIZES INFO ACCESS AND LOWERS COSTS
The City of Berkeley, CA, has implemented a new streaming media management and distribution solution that reduces costs across all City departments, while increasing community and employee access to information.
Using an enterprise solution, Berkeley publishes indexed video of weekly city council meetings and other public information pieces to community members and city employees over the Internet. This initiative has decreased the costs of responding to incoming requests for city council meeting information, while increasing video publishing turnaround time by up to 75%. The system is also expected to reduce costs and increase availability of Berkeley's internal training and public education videos.
"Our implementation is much more cost-effective and comprehensive than in-house alternatives," said Weldon Rucker, Berkeley's City Manager
"We have saved staff time and improved customer service during a time of fiscal constraint by giving website visitors 24x7 access to information," said Donna LaSala, E-Government Manager, City of Berkeley. "This is a great example of how technology should be used to increase civic participation and make local government more effective."
Berkeley chose the solution, from Granicus, a provider of streaming media solutions to local government, because it is designed specifically for city and county governments and meets specific public sector needs. Particularly beneficial to Berkeley is a group of unique features that automates the creation of a searchable index with "jump points" based on agenda items for each video archive. The resulting searchable index has proven crucial for city council meetings, which can run 4-6 hours in length. The searchable index is a benefit to community members and city staff who refer to meeting archives for clarification of City issues.
Another feature critical in Berkeley's decision to select the company, intelligent video routing, eliminates the bandwidth issues traditionally associated with streaming media by intelligently leveraging internal and external streaming servers to distribute streaming media requests. As a result, traffic for streaming media never affects Berkeley's existing Internet connectivity no matter how great the demand.
The City of Berkeley video Web site: http://www.cityofberkeley.info/video integrated video and document files for each live or archived meeting and additional public education videos. Each video is indexed, allowing browsers to jump to the relevant portion of the meeting quickly, and have all pertaining documents at their fingertips on demand. Prior to implementation of this system, the public would request the video from the city clerk, with an average turnaround of 48-hours.
CITY REDUCES FALSE ALARM RESPONSES
In the United States in 1998, police responded to approximately 38 million alarm activations, at an estimated annual cost of $1.5 billion. Most of the activations were burglar alarms, which proved to be between 98 to 99% false. In the United States alone, solving the problem of false alarms would by itself relieve 35,000 officers from providing an essentially private service.
The Salt Lake City Police Department has solved this burden on our department with the Verified Response Alarm Program. The alarm companies are required to verify an automatic alarm signal via an eyewitness before an officer is dispatched. Should the private guard discover an open door or broken window, an officer is dispatched to the scene as a high priority. Officers are no longer responding on alarms caused by cleaning crews, kids, cats, dogs and balloons. Police continue to respond to the human activated alarms such as robbery, panic and duress.
Alarm response decreased dramatically by 90%. We experienced a decrease in high priority calls for service response times. Burglaries decreased during the first year of implementation. Burglaries the second year increased by 3%. An in-depth study of 2001 burglary cases revealed some shoplifting and larceny cases were included in the burglary count. Burglary cases separated from these other cases for 2001 indicated a 1.9% decrease.
This program has been a win-win for our citizens, alarm companies, and the police department since it became ordinance in 2000, says Chief Charles F. "Rick" Dinse, Salt Lake City Police Department. Citizens are receiving a much faster response to their alarm signal from the private guard companies for an additional $5.00 per month to their monitoring account. Police officers can now be redirected to actual public safety needs.
Salt Lake City was a winner in the Herman Goldstein Award for Excellence in Problem Oriented Policing and the International Chiefs of Police - Webber Seavey Award in 2001 for the Verified Response Program. We are currently a semi-finalist in the "Innovations in American Government" award sponsored by Harvard University.
Las Vegas Metro Police Department began Verified Response in 1991 and also achieved a 90% reduction in alarm responses. False alarms are a national problem for police, with some departments utilizing 25 - 30% of their patrol resources on a call, which are predictably 98 to 99% false. Eight other cities currently practice Verified Response, fifty-three cities are moving in this direction, and a national awareness has begun with police departments to shift the burden of false alarms to the industry that created the problem and has the ability to solve it.
NEWS
ANSI SURVEY RECOGNIZES NSF STANDARDS
NSF International, The Public Health and Safety Company(tm), receives recognition for the national voluntary public health and safety standards developed through its processes. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) recently launched an online survey asking the standards community to identify standards that play a critical role in enhancing business competitiveness and in improving societal issues such as safety, health and the quality of life. The response to the survey was overwhelming; numerous NSF standards were recognized. For a complete summary of responses, please see survey results at http://public.ansi.org/ansionline/Documents/News%20and%20Publications/Other%20Documents/StandardsSurveyResults.ppt Focusing on food, water, indoor air and the environment, NSF standards are developed by committees and working groups representing the interest of all stakeholders. These primary stakeholder groups include industry, the regulatory community and the public at large.
"We are proud to have so many NSF/ANSI Standards recognized for the value they bring to society," said Jim Kendzel, Vice President, Administration. "NSF thanks the many volunteers who come together representing industry, regulators, consumers and other interest groups to ensure protection of public health and safety through the documents they develop. NSF is continuously committed to assist in the development of such standards to meet society's needs."
"Standards play a major role in many aspects of our daily lives-from decisions consumers make when purchasing products for their homes, to broader societal issues such as how we preserve the environment; from the competitive concerns of business in a global marketplace, to the government's role in protecting the public interest," explained Dr. Mark W. Hurwitz, ANSI President and CEO. "The 'Standards That Make A Difference' survey acts as a vehicle to bring additional awareness and publicity of the important work being done by the standards community."
TRANSIT RESEARCH GROUP SEEKS STUDY TOPICS
The Transit Cooperative Research Program, an organization that provides free research tools for the transportation industry, is currently seeking suggestions for topics to be considered for two ongoing research programs - TCRP Reports and TCRP Syntheses. Submittals, accepted from anyone with an interest in addressing problems facing the transit industry, will be evaluated by panels of industry and TCRP experts who will make recommendations on which topics are worthy of funding for further study.
The deadline for submitting suggestions for TCRP Reports - typically more in-depth studies that are released in the form of handbooks, design manuals or CD-ROMS - is June 15. They should be made in the form of "problem statements" that identify areas such as the research objective, research proposed, estimates on research period and funding required, urgency, and relationship to the strategic goals and policy initiatives of the Federal Transit Administration and to TCRP's strategic priorities.
Problem statements can be submitted via the Internet using a form located at http://www.apta.com/tcrp . Statements can also be submitted via email to tcrp@nas.edu. NEWS OF THE WEIRD
Bizarre but true stories about real people. ht/tp://www.govpro.com/GPRONewsletter/Article/?
LINKS
Safety Storage manufactures prefabricated heavy-gage steel products and custom engineered building systems. Visit: http://www.safetystorage.com/
C & H Distributors provide a fast, efficient way to purchase shelving, cabinets, packaging and shipping products, or office furniture. Visit: http://www.chdist.com/govt
Meyer is the world leader in snow plows plus accessories, parts, spreaders, and controls for plows. Custom-designed Meyer snow plows fit exact vehicle frame and weight specifications for exceptional performance in all applications. http://www.meyerproducts.com
PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT
Air Rover Co.: Portable air conditioners. http://www.airrover.com
Baysaver: Stormwater treatment systems. http://www.baysaver.com
Stellar Industries: Hydraulic hooklift loaders. http://www.hooklift.com
R.J. Thomas Mfg. Co.: Park Equipment. http://www.pilotrock.com
Vixen Hill: Gazebos and other cedar products. http://www.vixenhill.com
Find information on advertising in the GovPro Newsletter on http://www.govpro.com or contact rhowlett@penton.com.
You may qualify for a FREE Magazine Subscription
Complimentary subscriptions to Government Product News, a product-driven resource, and Government PROcurement, editorial targeting the public sector purchasing professional are available to those who qualify. To subscribe to Government Product News visit: http://www.submag.com/sub/gn To subscribe to Government Procurement visit: http://www.submag.com/sub/gp Copyright 2003 Penton Media, Inc.
