LVT Use Cases in Law Enforcement

The mere presence of LVT Units helps with everything from civil unrest to crowd control to simply high crime areas. Most of our applications rely on taking an overt approach to security because people behave differently when they know they are being watched. However, the longer we have been in business, the more we have seen creative use cases with law enforcement agencies.

Special events

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic many special events have been canceled. Concerts, festivals, sporting events, and even things such as farmer’s markets have been temporarily canceled or postponed. However, prior to the pandemic one of the strongest use cases for LVT units and law enforcement was to help monitor special events.

One small town with a population of under 5,000 hosts an annual festival that attracts almost 100,000 attendees. More than 180 vendors come to sell their products and food and groups provide entertainment throughout the two-day event. With such a large influx of people, the local sheriff’s office does not have the personnel or resources to properly monitor the area. However, thanks to an on-going partnership with LVT, they place multiple units throughout the location every year. Some units overlook the fields which are temporarily turned into parking lots, while others watch the main square where the event is held. The local sheriff relies on the LVT units to augment their personnel for the weekend. Furthermore, because LVT units do not require traditional bandwidth and electricity hook ups, they are ideal for the rural location.

Unfortunately, while 2020 saw a decrease in community events, it also saw a rise in civil unrest. Many protests and riots erupted across the nation and the movement to defund the police emerged. Law enforcement across the nation was attacked both physically and psychologically. Suddenly your job to protect and serve, which was already difficult, got even harder.

When a protest or riot happens, you have little warning. Most of the time they spring up in the course of days, if not hours. Furthermore, these events are inherently dangerous. Your officers are put in harm's way to protect others and property. However, at LVT our job is to provide you with the tools to help you navigate these challenges. Our units can be rapidly deployed and give you live stream of a protest in 30 minutes or less. It gives you the opportunity to get eyes on the protest, keep your officers safer, and to optimize your personnel’s efforts.

Covert applications

While most of our use cases focus on overt security, LVT units can be adapted to convert applications as well. As stated in the previous chapter, the agency in Florida used our units in a very covert way to monitor a drug house. Every time a heat signature entered the house, the LVT unit would take a photo of the vehicle and send it to the officer in charge of the unit. As with this use case, our units can be used in a covert method as well as overt.

Deterrence

The typical LVT D3 Mobile Security Trailer is extremely visible. When in use, the cameras are on top of a 22 foot-pole and the entire unit weighs more than 1,600 pounds. We purposefully made the units imposing because we believe an overt security approach is preferable in many cases. People behave differently when under surveillance.

Because our units are so visible, many of our use cases are focused on deterrence. One police department received daily calls to a crime-ridden retailer that was the top hotspot for crime in the community. Once the retailer placed a LVT unit in their parking lot they saw an instant decrease in incidents. It even got to the point where the police department contacted the manager to make sure they were okay because they weren’t being called to the location. The only thing that was done differently by this retailer was the placement of a LVT D3 Mobile Security Trailer. While it is not always as measurable as it was for this retailer and police department, deterrence plays a huge factor in security.

Most of the time, just the LVT unit’s presence is enough to deter criminal activity. However, if it’s not, the LVT units can be equipped with strobe lights, flood lights, and a two-way speaker that act as further deterrents. The unit can even be set to automatically warn people that they are trespassing or to remind people about social distancing and mask wearing policies.

Evidence

If all else fails and the intruder is not deterred, you now have video evidence of them and their actions. Furthermore, the LVT units are equipped for call-ins from either your phone or browser. Every call is logged in the LVT Platform so your interactions with those onsite will be available as further evidence. Every time an alert is triggered, the unit logs that in the LVT Platform where it is easy for you to review. We have made it easy to access all video and audio recordings as well as photos from each LVT unit.

Each unit records 24/7 and that footage is stored on a hard drive. However, once a unit is triggered, it creates an event with the corresponding recording in the LVT Platform. This event is easily available for viewing. Once you find the particular event/data that you want, you request it, and then it is uploaded directly from the hard drive to the cloud through cellular connectivity. You can then download the content and submit it directly to the proper legal authorities. We have top-of-the-line data security and the requested images and videos are sent directly from the unit’s hard drive to you via the cloud. There is no middleman. This system makes it easy for you to prove the chain of command for evidence.