Obama Visits NYPD Dashboards
Posted By Dashboard Spy / 27th May 2010
Dashboard user Barack Obama, shown here using the Federal I.T. Spending Dashboard, recently visited the NYPD Command Center, known for a stunningly sophisticated dashboard system.
The NYPD Anti-terror Command Center houses “The Big Board”, an operational dashboard that serves as the center’s focal point for managing security incidents and events.
Here is Obama thanking the staff for their work with the recent Times Square bombing attempt.
The NYPD Command Center controls a ring of security in lower Manhattan. It processes data from over 1,000 cameras located below 30th Street. Input from license plate readers, face recognition systems and radiation detectors are processed in real time and results from the “video analytics” are presented on “the big board” aka the NYPD operational dashboard.
The NYPD operational dashboard is not just a “read-only” system – it can be used to initiate security measures. It has the ability to initiate roadblocks and even start an evacuation of lower Manhattan.
As with all business intelligence systems, the effectiveness of the dashboard is only as good as the data it receives as input. While Obama was visiting the NYPD dashboard in regards to the terror incident in Times Square, that area is actually outside of the NYPD dashboards “ring”. There are plans to increase the area of coverage, but that’s a funding issue – and we all know the challenges in securing funding for dashboard enhancements.
Take a tour of the Lower Manhattan Security Initiative Hub