April 30, 2025 • 24 mins
When every second counts, reliable connectivity can make all the difference. In this episode of Critical Connections, we sit down with Lieutenant Ben Jones from the Winston-Salem Police Department as he reveals how their Real Time Crime Center is solving critical cases—from shootings to missing persons—in mere minutes.
Discover how Dejero connectivity technology is empowering law enforcement to respond:
- Faster to emergencies
- Smarter with critical data
- More effectively in high-stakes situations
This game-changing approach to public safety isn't just impressive—it's saving lives in our communities every day.
Ready to transform your operation's connectivity strategy? Watch our full interview now!
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🔍 Explore Dejero tech: https://www.dejero.com/industry/public-safety
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
We are solving shootings and robberieswithin the Real Time
Crime Center within 15 or 20 minutesusing this technology.
We have worked in over100 missing person cases this year
and have affected them insome shape or form right here
in the Real Time Crime Center.
It doesn't work without connectivity
Dejero opens that door upwhere I didn't have that
(00:26):
option before.
Hello, I’m Ivy Cuervo.
Welcome to Critical Connections,a podcast that features the stories
of the people and companieshelping to keep our communities
connected, informed and safe.
(00:49):
When it comes to protecting peopleand keeping the peace,
a well-informed officer is more likelyto make
better decisions on the field.At the same time,
many hardworkingpolice departments are facing a shortage
of people in uniform.To help address that gap,
the public safety agenciesare increasingly turning to innovation and
technology, including the Winston-SalemPolice Department in North Carolina.
(01:14):
Joining me now is Lieutenant Ben Jones.
He's a long time member of the forcewith nearly 25 years
in uniform, specializing in intelligenceand investigations.
He also knows firsthand how public safetyis undergoing an evolution,
quickly changing how police departments operate
and highlighting the critical needfor collaboration with top experts.
(01:36):
Thanks for being here, Ben.
Thank you for having me.
Also joining me is a familiar facehere at Dejero, Rory McCabe.
He's the Channel Sales Manager,
Public Safety,which means a big part of his job
is meeting with first responderslike Lieutenant Jones
to hear about the challengesthey face in the field and how Dejero offers
solutions that are resilient, reliable,and easy to use.
(02:00):
Welcome, Rory.
Hey. Good morning, Ivy.
Well, let's get started.
Ben, we touched on, a little on
some of the challengesfacing police departments.
What are some of the biggest hurdlesfor Winston-Salem?
Well, when you're talking about
the Real Time Crime Centerintelligence specifically,
You know, you've touched on the factthe hurdles for manpower. Yes.
(02:23):
Across the country, manpower is an issue.
But the rise in crime,specifically gun crime,
was the reason why we moved to,the Real Time Crime Center model or,
and opened our, our center upto try to affect
the gun violence that was happeningin the city of Winston-Salem.
(02:44):
Rory, you meet with public safety agenciesall the time.
So, you know, Lieutenant Jones ringstrue to you what he's saying.
What are some of the other challengesyou hear about?
Yeah, I think it runs the gambit.
You know, coming from a former carrierside,
the rule of, the rule of the landis, coverage is king, right?
(03:05):
Everything else is important.
But if I don't have service,I have absolutely nothing.
And as we see a data driven, evolution,like Winston-
Salem, like other organizations, it'sthe reliance upon that.
The intelligence that provides youis absolutely critical to be
for them to be able to do their jobsin, frankly, having to think about that in
the foreground is super,is really frustrating.
(03:28):
For their side,
they have so many more other thingsthat they're being tasked with. Society's
putting upon our first responders and,you know, being technical experts, you
know, on top of everything else they dois is pushing a lot more pressure on.
So, you like to come in and,you know, be a part of that conversation
and see what we can do to help alleviatethose challenges.
(03:49):
Yeah.
Well, Ben, to help bridge the gap ofnot enough officers in the field.
And, of course, a whole bunchof other potential challenges.
You turn to technology, and in 2021,you build a Real Time
Crime Center where you are,where you have behind you right now.
Tell us about that,because I know it's been quite a journey,
and you have even expandeda couple of years ago.
(04:12):
Yeah. So we,
we began in January of 2021,in a very small place.
We realized there was aneed to tap in to technology
that was out there, to help us,you know, become more of intelligence-
led policing, which is kind of the modelwe're going to a lot of police departments
across the country.
The more intelligence,like you said earlier,
(04:34):
a better informed officeris going to make better decisions.
So we moved up to this space that you see
behind me about two years ago,and it is a big upgrade.
We hired a lot of investigative analyststo work
and operate our technology,along with some sworn officers.
And you know, figuring out ways
(04:55):
to tap into the cutting edge technologyout there
and what we needed inWinston-Salem was a big part
of what I had to do day to daywhen moving up here.
And like Rory said, things
that I don't need to worry about is,you know, connectivity.
I need to worry about what technologiesI need.
You know,I need the connectivity to be there.
(05:16):
And, you know, what we wantis be able to have actionable intelligence
for officers to work with, work in realtime, and also help with investigations.
You– One of the things I say is, you know,
we want to be more precision policingnow than ever before,
and the technologies that are out thereallows us to be more precise
(05:39):
in what we do.
For instance, in the past,if we had a robbery
and the information we got from a witness,maybe a black Honda Accord
that we're looking for.
As officers are responding to the scene,you know, officers are probably stopping
about every black Honda Accordthey see. Now with the technology,
(06:00):
you were able to have the tag information,more details about the car
and will be a more preciseabout what we do.
And that's kind of the modelwe want to to be and what we've done here
in Winston-Salem and the connectivitythings that you talked about earlier.
Yeah, that's big for me.
That's that's we can't bring thistechnology in without the connectivity.
(06:23):
Well, Real Time Crime
Centers have been around in placeslike New York and Atlanta for some years.
Another solution, though, Ben,that you've worked on
is two high tech trailers.
At first the signal wasn't so great, butthat's when you learned about Dejero.
Tell us about that.
Yeah. So we we do have some blind spots.
And as we've expanded our, our systemto throughout the city, there are areas
(06:46):
that we're not able to reachwith a hard line infrastructure,
and in our areas that we havemajor events at.
We, we did bring in, Compass
Security Solutionstrailer with cameras on them.
in I think it was May of last year.
It was a bike race.
So a lot of people thereand we had some connectivity issues.
(07:09):
Once we had a lot of people in there,we weren't really getting
the type of receptionwe needed to do the things
we need to do or see the thingswe need to be able to see in real time.
Up until this
year, in August,he brought another trailer back
and he brought Rory with him, and we said,okay, what what what can we do?
(07:30):
How can we how can we solve this problem?
And Rory spent the day up heregoing around and talking about
Dejero and the solution that it offered.
And it was, you know, in the trailerand at the time, I'll be honest,
I wasn't, you know, optimisticthat we were going to have a great
(07:52):
camera view because the, the history,not with Dejero,
but just with connectivitywhen you have a lot of people around.
But he,
Rory, he assured me how this is going to work
great.
And we pulled the trailerin, it sat there for,
I think, 7 or 8 days.
We were streaming video, off the trailer,and it was magnificent.
(08:15):
It looked like fiber the entire time.
And I couldn't have I couldn't have beenhappier with the outcome.
Rory, take us back
to that meeting with Winston-SalemPolice Department
and your initial impressions ofthe challenges they faced.
I had gotten a call from Compass SecuritySolutions about a communications exercise
they had previously done withBen that had 65,000 people attending.
(08:37):
The backhaul solution chosen duringthat event did not work according to the needs
of Winston-Salem Police or CompassSecurity Solutions. In the next event
they had coming up, they wereexpecting up to 70,000 people,
which is why Compass had reached out to us
to adjust the backhaul solution tosupport their needs for this situation.
So an area of concern and a lot of towns,a lot of communities in the United States
(08:59):
faces where, either their older districtsor their newer builds, infrastructure
hasn't caught up. Right?
It's really expensive to drop fiberin the ground or it's time consuming or
or frankly,it might not be the right solution
based uponwhat they're trying to do in a nimbleness.
So Winston-Salem herewas looking to be able to be flexible
based upon the eventsand things that they had scale
(09:21):
and that they had program, put in place,that would require them to scale.
Right? And as Ben mentioned before, right?
The, the labor challengesthat public safety faces means a higher
reliance upon technologyto augment what the officers can do.
And when we came in and startedhaving initial conversations, it was,
well, great.
Well, we have some existing cameras,we have some different things in there,
(09:43):
but they're really not quite hitting
the mark towardswhat Winston needs to do for major events.
And when we drove and looked at the area,
you know, we evaluateall of the different carrier services
and all the carriersdo their diligence, right.
They do that everything they can.
But when you have a lot of concrete,a lot of brick, a lot of glass,
a lot of fun things in there,you're building
these synthetic mountains in placeand the behaviors of each of them
(10:05):
may not be adequate for high bandwidthrequired, high bandwidth required
applications like a camera intoa Real Time Crime Center.
So Dejero’s capability of takingthe good, the bad,
the ugly of each carrier performance.
And aggregating that into oneIP is what stabilizes and smooths out
that connection.
So Ben's statement ofand we love hearing it, right?
(10:28):
"This is as close to fiberas I could ever experience."
And frankly, I like,when I don't have to eat my words.
So I think that one of the statement was,a colleague of ours and a former deputy
at San Diego County Sheriff's Department hadsaid "trust but verify," right?
I can tell youall the best things in the world,
but I prefer you to see itand experience it for yourself
(10:49):
rather than just believe me at my word.
And prior to
Dejero working with you,and the police department,
Ben, had you ever heard of DejeroSmart Blending Technology?
What it does, what it's all about?
No. I had not heard anythingabout Dejero.
You know, and being in the sector,you hear a lot of different things.
(11:10):
And there's a lot of.
There's a lot of thingshere. A lot of promises.
And they're not often or sometimes
they're not fulfilled the waypeople say they're going to work.
And when Rory came and he explained it to me,and I'm not going to pretend
like I know all the intricateworkings of Dejero because, you
know, Rory, he's very, technicaland very good at what he does.
But he explained it to mein a way that I can understand,
(11:32):
the the ability to get out
a signal with all those people around,especially in the location
Like you said, the synthetic mountains.
I think you use the,you know, it's the buildings.
It's hard for any, carrierto get a signal, especially
we're pulling three camerasin color, PTZ cameras
(11:55):
that really never lost connectivityand had a crystal clear picture.
So, you know, frankly, I wasI was impressed.
You know, I'm surprised I had never heardof Dejero up until that point in time.
Well, we believethat one connection is never enough.
Rory, can you kind of explain to thosewho haven't heard about it,
(12:16):
what exactly
Smart Blending Technology does?
Certainly. Kind of like Benhad mentioned.
So every carrier's going to perform different
based upon its geography,based on its infrastructure.
And, you know, we've just seen real timeevidence of these challenges recently
with the hurricanes that hit the southeast,and Winston-Salem was a beacon,
a refuge for a lot of those folksgetting getting out of the harm's way.
(12:39):
But you can see upwards,
I think we saw some carriers
in certain areas at upwards of 75%infrastructure damage.
so when we say it'snot just about the aggregation
that that higher bandwidth,the increased throughput,
it's about how many legsthat are on your stool
that allow youto keep your connectivity going, right?
So if I have certain damage or compromisedinfrastructure on one carrier,
but I also have other carrier elements,or I have disaster recovery assets come in
(13:03):
their portable towers, my abilityto float within those,
that infrastructure
not having to think aboutwhat is performing, what isn't performing,
or my pretty consistent adageof kicking out legs of the stool.
Right?So imagine you have a multi leg stool.
And if anyone's ever–If you've ever tried to sit,
ever try to take a stool, break offtwo legs and sit on it,
it tends to not govery well with most people.
(13:26):
So providing that resiliency,providing and taking,
even sometimes when that one leg might bebrittle, might be looking
a little fragmented and you would thinkthere is no way that can help me.
Dejero's unique way that it passes dataat the packet level across each carrier,
each networksolution is really what it helps to
stand up those.So we can have a three legged stool,
(13:49):
and we can have challengeswhen the each leg of that stool.
Right? It's brittle.
It's it's high high high jitter.
It's got a low RSSI.
It's got all of these thingsthat in most traditional technology
would meanwe're not communicating in or out.
But Dejero's ability to wrap thattogether and make that a solid foundation.
(14:10):
Taking those three legs, combining
the top with Dejeroat the top of the stool means
that communication can be stabilized,and it can be functional and folks like Ben
and Winston-Salem police,who absolutely need to have visualization
of their crowd to ensure that everyone'skept in a peaceful and safe perspective.
That's what we pride ourselves on doing.
It doesn't have to bea positive environment.
(14:32):
It doesn't have to be a great environment.
It can be a little bit ugly sometimes.
And Dejero's ability to come inand make those connections
perform the way that the carrierswant them to, right?
It's really about that combined effortof how we can help create everyone's
network to be a more stable solution,and that's where smart blending comes in.
It's that combinationand that unique way that we transmit data.
(14:54):
Yeah, it's certainly a game changer
especially when you consider, you know,how you can enhance situational awareness,
with big public events.
You know, Black History Monthor concerts or political events.
Ben, take us throughhow police officers, though,
are also using this technologyto tackle crime.
I know you've talked about everythingfrom missing person cases to
(15:16):
homicide investigations.
Share with us a little bit of that.
So you know,we use it daily here in Winston-Salem
Police Department Real Time Crime Center.
The technology that we bring inhas to be brought in,
you know, through some type of network.
Fortunately for us,
a lot of the stuff we we have bringing inis on a fiber network.
(15:38):
So you know, we are solving shootingsand robberies within the Real Time
Crime Center within 15 or 20 minutesusing this technology.
It's just not the technologyit's it's the people
you have the room that understand it.
and can use the technology.
You know, for instance, you know,
just last week we had a robbery
(16:00):
take place with a stolen vehiclethat had the wrong tag on it
that was switched with another vehiclethat was involved in
a robbery that they had to switch tags.
We were able to use the technology
we have this room to
you know, find those tags, piece togetherwhat happened using analytics
and solve that.
Or at least give the investigators,you know, what they needed for them
to help solve it.
(16:21):
So the every day we're using analytics
and other types of technologiesthat's got to be brought into this room.
I could go on for days injust the last six weeks of just
the different things that we've affected.Daily, throughout this department,
we affect almost every operationsome way now. And that's
(16:43):
not a thing that comes overnightfor a Real Time Crime Center.
It takes some time
to get the officer buy in.
They got to see that it works, right?
And once they see that it worksand it helps them
solve their cases or helps us findmissing people, which is a big component.
You hear people talk about Real Time Crime Center.
Yes, that is a name.
But we we have worked an over100 missing person cases this year
(17:09):
and have affected them inand in some shape or form right here
in the Real Time Crime Center.
It doesn't work without connectivity.
And I think for for me,Dejero opens that door up
where I didn't have that option before
because I just cannot count on the,
(17:30):
you know, regular connectionor network connection
that was being used to give methe streaming video that I need.
Because we do a lot of streaming video.
It's just not a picture of a vehicleand a picture
of the tag, you know, where we havegot a thought outside the box
on how we deploy our license platereaders, versus
the traditional way of just havinga picture of the vehicle, a picture of the tag.
(17:52):
We were actually streaming video with itthat, you know, gives us identifiers
on the car,
you know, more than just the tag.
And that is helping solve crime.
You know, for instance,we had a homicide that happened,
and we had the tag on the vehicle.
We tracked the vehicle across the city.
But oftentimes that vehiclewas not hitting our tag reader,
(18:13):
but the analytics from the camera was ablewe were able to see that
one of the headlightswas dimmer than the other.
So every time it crossed,we knew we were still on the same vehicle.
So analytics are a big thing,and we got to bring those analytics in.
Of course.
So, you know,when you consider communities are growing
really across North America, that meansdepartments are also going to grow.
(18:36):
So how do you think technologyis going to play a role
with, you know, this type of expansion.
Well, I think technologyis the next evolution in police work.
You know, we were just started a Droneas a First Responder program here.
That gives you a two mile radius,you know, as the crow flies
to fly that droneand get to a incident within 90 seconds
(19:01):
of the call.They're going to beat most officers
to the call,and now we're going to be providing
real time information to those officersbased on that intelligence-
led policing model that we want,the more intelligence we put out there.
And I believe the future with technologyin police work is is going to be
the cornerstone of what police departmentsutilize to help solve crime.
(19:25):
Well, let's finish off with the questionfor the both of you.
And maybe I'll start with you first,
Rory.
And, the question is this:
What does success look like for you,
when we're talking about connectivity,public safety, you know, keeping
communities, people and property safe.
Rory? Sure.
So, you know, in in in our world,it's really
(19:47):
providing you the connectivity, right?
The coverage that you need.
And in different application usage,it's the bandwidth as well.
So sometimes it's as trivialas I just need
to be able to make and receive a call,a text message, something over Wi-Fi.
I need to be able to pull upmy records management system
or have my CAD, my Computer-Aided Dispatch,there in real time.
(20:08):
Right?Other times it's a little more robust.
It's. I need to have that body cam.That dash cam.
I need to have that license plate readerupdating with the most current reflected
database instance of challenges,
like Ben was talking aboutbefore, of these unique nuances.
So they're swapping tagsor doing different things.
Amber alerts that we all see.
You know, how fastthat information gets to you allows for,
(20:30):
and I think, Ben, you probably said this,I forgive me if I misquote you here, but
it's it's taking instinct and augmentingwith additional intelligence.
Right?
So someone who spent as much timeon the force, you get a read for people,
you get to read for situations.
However, we're all fallible.We all have our challenges.
And the more informationwe can get access to,
the more intelligence of a positionwe can take, the better our responses.
(20:53):
It's a mitigating those situationsfrom becoming bad to worse,
or it's negating a situationthat, like you had mentioned,
how many black Hondas are out therethat are doing that,
and we're trying to do, you know,everybody wants to keep people safe.
So what you do is you cast a wide net
and we will pull over every one of themto see if that's a one of challenge.
However, if you can be more precisewithin that,
we impact the public lesstheir experience is better
(21:17):
and more improved because they knowthat their peace officers are very
are workingin an extremely precise fashion.
And what you're doingjust speaks to all of that.
And that's what we like to see.
So in Dejero's world, it's coverage,
it's throughput,
but taking the things that you're doingon the cutting edge of technology,
if I have the connectivity, how muchmore creative can I get with that?
(21:39):
Hey, this is a unique solution.
We haven't considered – Droneas a First Responder, you know,
whatever that might be, an AI based LPR,it could be a run the gambit.
But if I have the connection,
all of the other ancillaries,all of the other things that would make
my Intelligence Crime Center function evenbetter, that's what we're about, right?
We're about that collaboration betweentake the communications off the table
(22:02):
and focus on the new ancillariesthat are providing the, real time
updates that you need to do your jobsbetter and more effectively to the benefit
of all of us.
I think the most important partis that it's the customers,
you know, like Winston-Salemand other police departments
that are really actually drivingthe innovation.
They're showing us what can be done.
(22:23):
And then technology companies then have toeither, you know, do modifications
or create new solutions that can supportwhat they're trying to achieve.
Ben, what do youwhat's success look like for you?
Oh, man. That's.
That's a tough question.
And you're spot on.
Obvious for the technology companies.
(22:44):
They are, and they're reaching out oftento say, hey, how can we
How can we make this better?What can we do to be in real time?
And Roy, that was a good explanation,you know, on how that all comes together.
You know, success, success for meis, you know, continuing to affect crime.
Help our solvability.
There's always going to be crime.
We need to be able to solve that crime.
(23:06):
You know, keep exploring new technologies
evolving with the technologiesbecause police departments,
you know, in the pastwere usually behind on technology.
Real Time Crime Centers has helpedpolice departments
push to the edge of technology.
now where it isand and where it's happening at.
And technology companieslike you said are trying to figure out
(23:29):
how do we fit in?
And a you can't say it enough,
connectivity is a big portion of that,
whether it's, you know,and I didn't hit on the data like before.
Again, there is data and informationthat has to be exchanged sometimes,
you know, to to provide the intelligencethat's needed out there.
So, you know, success is you know,I want to keep expanding
on what we're doing here.
(23:50):
I want us to get better at it.
And you know, at the end of the day,
I want to keep the community
of Winston-Salem safe,keep our officers safe.
That's the goal.
And I think if we keep doing the thingswe do and companies like yours
keep providing the the infrastructureto make that happen, we're just,
the sky's the limit.
Well, thank you so much to both of you
(24:11):
Ben and Roryfor joining me for this fascinating
conversation.
You're welcome.
Thanks so much for having us.
To learn more about Dejero's missioncritical solutions
for public safetyor to book a demo, head to dejero.com
We are solving shootings and robberieswithin the Real Time
Crime Center within 15 or 20 minutesusing this technology.
We have worked in over100 missing person cases this year
and have affected them insome shape or form right here
in the Real Time Crime Center.
It doesn't work without connectivity
Dejero opens that door upwhere I didn't have that
(00:26):
option before.
Hello, I’m Ivy Cuervo.
Welcome to Critical Connections,a podcast that features the stories
of the people and companieshelping to keep our communities
connected, informed and safe.
(00:49):
When it comes to protecting peopleand keeping the peace,
a well-informed officer is more likelyto make
better decisions on the field.At the same time,
many hardworkingpolice departments are facing a shortage
of people in uniform.To help address that gap,
the public safety agenciesare increasingly turning to innovation and
technology, including the Winston-SalemPolice Department in North Carolina.
(01:14):
Joining me now is Lieutenant Ben Jones.
He's a long time member of the forcewith nearly 25 years
in uniform, specializing in intelligenceand investigations.
He also knows firsthand how public safetyis undergoing an evolution,
quickly changing how police departments operate
and highlighting the critical needfor collaboration with top experts.
(01:36):
Thanks for being here, Ben.
Thank you for having me.
Also joining me is a familiar facehere at Dejero, Rory McCabe.
He's the Channel Sales Manager,
Public Safety,which means a big part of his job
is meeting with first responderslike Lieutenant Jones
to hear about the challengesthey face in the field and how Dejero offers
solutions that are resilient, reliable,and easy to use.
(02:00):
Welcome, Rory.
Hey. Good morning, Ivy.
Well, let's get started.
Ben, we touched on, a little on
some of the challengesfacing police departments.
What are some of the biggest hurdlesfor Winston-Salem?
Well, when you're talking about
the Real Time Crime Centerintelligence specifically,
You know, you've touched on the factthe hurdles for manpower. Yes.
(02:23):
Across the country, manpower is an issue.
But the rise in crime,specifically gun crime,
was the reason why we moved to,the Real Time Crime Center model or,
and opened our, our center upto try to affect
the gun violence that was happeningin the city of Winston-Salem.
(02:44):
Rory, you meet with public safety agenciesall the time.
So, you know, Lieutenant Jones ringstrue to you what he's saying.
What are some of the other challengesyou hear about?
Yeah, I think it runs the gambit.
You know, coming from a former carrierside,
the rule of, the rule of the landis, coverage is king, right?
(03:05):
Everything else is important.
But if I don't have service,I have absolutely nothing.
And as we see a data driven, evolution,like Winston-
Salem, like other organizations, it'sthe reliance upon that.
The intelligence that provides youis absolutely critical to be
for them to be able to do their jobsin, frankly, having to think about that in
the foreground is super,is really frustrating.
(03:28):
For their side,
they have so many more other thingsthat they're being tasked with. Society's
putting upon our first responders and,you know, being technical experts, you
know, on top of everything else they dois is pushing a lot more pressure on.
So, you like to come in and,you know, be a part of that conversation
and see what we can do to help alleviatethose challenges.
(03:49):
Yeah.
Well, Ben, to help bridge the gap ofnot enough officers in the field.
And, of course, a whole bunchof other potential challenges.
You turn to technology, and in 2021,you build a Real Time
Crime Center where you are,where you have behind you right now.
Tell us about that,because I know it's been quite a journey,
and you have even expandeda couple of years ago.
(04:12):
Yeah. So we,
we began in January of 2021,in a very small place.
We realized there was aneed to tap in to technology
that was out there, to help us,you know, become more of intelligence-
led policing, which is kind of the modelwe're going to a lot of police departments
across the country.
The more intelligence,like you said earlier,
(04:34):
a better informed officeris going to make better decisions.
So we moved up to this space that you see
behind me about two years ago,and it is a big upgrade.
We hired a lot of investigative analyststo work
and operate our technology,along with some sworn officers.
And you know, figuring out ways
(04:55):
to tap into the cutting edge technologyout there
and what we needed inWinston-Salem was a big part
of what I had to do day to daywhen moving up here.
And like Rory said, things
that I don't need to worry about is,you know, connectivity.
I need to worry about what technologiesI need.
You know,I need the connectivity to be there.
(05:16):
And, you know, what we wantis be able to have actionable intelligence
for officers to work with, work in realtime, and also help with investigations.
You– One of the things I say is, you know,
we want to be more precision policingnow than ever before,
and the technologies that are out thereallows us to be more precise
(05:39):
in what we do.
For instance, in the past,if we had a robbery
and the information we got from a witness,maybe a black Honda Accord
that we're looking for.
As officers are responding to the scene,you know, officers are probably stopping
about every black Honda Accordthey see. Now with the technology,
(06:00):
you were able to have the tag information,more details about the car
and will be a more preciseabout what we do.
And that's kind of the modelwe want to to be and what we've done here
in Winston-Salem and the connectivitythings that you talked about earlier.
Yeah, that's big for me.
That's that's we can't bring thistechnology in without the connectivity.
(06:23):
Well, Real Time Crime
Centers have been around in placeslike New York and Atlanta for some years.
Another solution, though, Ben,that you've worked on
is two high tech trailers.
At first the signal wasn't so great, butthat's when you learned about Dejero.
Tell us about that.
Yeah. So we we do have some blind spots.
And as we've expanded our, our systemto throughout the city, there are areas
(06:46):
that we're not able to reachwith a hard line infrastructure,
and in our areas that we havemajor events at.
We, we did bring in, Compass
Security Solutionstrailer with cameras on them.
in I think it was May of last year.
It was a bike race.
So a lot of people thereand we had some connectivity issues.
(07:09):
Once we had a lot of people in there,we weren't really getting
the type of receptionwe needed to do the things
we need to do or see the thingswe need to be able to see in real time.
Up until this
year, in August,he brought another trailer back
and he brought Rory with him, and we said,okay, what what what can we do?
(07:30):
How can we how can we solve this problem?
And Rory spent the day up heregoing around and talking about
Dejero and the solution that it offered.
And it was, you know, in the trailerand at the time, I'll be honest,
I wasn't, you know, optimisticthat we were going to have a great
(07:52):
camera view because the, the history,not with Dejero,
but just with connectivitywhen you have a lot of people around.
But he,
Rory, he assured me how this is going to work
great.
And we pulled the trailerin, it sat there for,
I think, 7 or 8 days.
We were streaming video, off the trailer,and it was magnificent.
(08:15):
It looked like fiber the entire time.
And I couldn't have I couldn't have beenhappier with the outcome.
Rory, take us back
to that meeting with Winston-SalemPolice Department
and your initial impressions ofthe challenges they faced.
I had gotten a call from Compass SecuritySolutions about a communications exercise
they had previously done withBen that had 65,000 people attending.
(08:37):
The backhaul solution chosen duringthat event did not work according to the needs
of Winston-Salem Police or CompassSecurity Solutions. In the next event
they had coming up, they wereexpecting up to 70,000 people,
which is why Compass had reached out to us
to adjust the backhaul solution tosupport their needs for this situation.
So an area of concern and a lot of towns,a lot of communities in the United States
(08:59):
faces where, either their older districtsor their newer builds, infrastructure
hasn't caught up. Right?
It's really expensive to drop fiberin the ground or it's time consuming or
or frankly,it might not be the right solution
based uponwhat they're trying to do in a nimbleness.
So Winston-Salem herewas looking to be able to be flexible
based upon the eventsand things that they had scale
(09:21):
and that they had program, put in place,that would require them to scale.
Right? And as Ben mentioned before, right?
The, the labor challengesthat public safety faces means a higher
reliance upon technologyto augment what the officers can do.
And when we came in and startedhaving initial conversations, it was,
well, great.
Well, we have some existing cameras,we have some different things in there,
(09:43):
but they're really not quite hitting
the mark towardswhat Winston needs to do for major events.
And when we drove and looked at the area,
you know, we evaluateall of the different carrier services
and all the carriersdo their diligence, right.
They do that everything they can.
But when you have a lot of concrete,a lot of brick, a lot of glass,
a lot of fun things in there,you're building
these synthetic mountains in placeand the behaviors of each of them
(10:05):
may not be adequate for high bandwidthrequired, high bandwidth required
applications like a camera intoa Real Time Crime Center.
So Dejero’s capability of takingthe good, the bad,
the ugly of each carrier performance.
And aggregating that into oneIP is what stabilizes and smooths out
that connection.
So Ben's statement ofand we love hearing it, right?
(10:28):
"This is as close to fiberas I could ever experience."
And frankly, I like,when I don't have to eat my words.
So I think that one of the statement was,a colleague of ours and a former deputy
at San Diego County Sheriff's Department hadsaid "trust but verify," right?
I can tell youall the best things in the world,
but I prefer you to see itand experience it for yourself
(10:49):
rather than just believe me at my word.
And prior to
Dejero working with you,and the police department,
Ben, had you ever heard of DejeroSmart Blending Technology?
What it does, what it's all about?
No. I had not heard anythingabout Dejero.
You know, and being in the sector,you hear a lot of different things.
(11:10):
And there's a lot of.
There's a lot of thingshere. A lot of promises.
And they're not often or sometimes
they're not fulfilled the waypeople say they're going to work.
And when Rory came and he explained it to me,and I'm not going to pretend
like I know all the intricateworkings of Dejero because, you
know, Rory, he's very, technicaland very good at what he does.
But he explained it to mein a way that I can understand,
(11:32):
the the ability to get out
a signal with all those people around,especially in the location
Like you said, the synthetic mountains.
I think you use the,you know, it's the buildings.
It's hard for any, carrierto get a signal, especially
we're pulling three camerasin color, PTZ cameras
(11:55):
that really never lost connectivityand had a crystal clear picture.
So, you know, frankly, I wasI was impressed.
You know, I'm surprised I had never heardof Dejero up until that point in time.
Well, we believethat one connection is never enough.
Rory, can you kind of explain to thosewho haven't heard about it,
(12:16):
what exactly
Smart Blending Technology does?
Certainly. Kind of like Benhad mentioned.
So every carrier's going to perform different
based upon its geography,based on its infrastructure.
And, you know, we've just seen real timeevidence of these challenges recently
with the hurricanes that hit the southeast,and Winston-Salem was a beacon,
a refuge for a lot of those folksgetting getting out of the harm's way.
(12:39):
But you can see upwards,
I think we saw some carriers
in certain areas at upwards of 75%infrastructure damage.
so when we say it'snot just about the aggregation
that that higher bandwidth,the increased throughput,
it's about how many legsthat are on your stool
that allow youto keep your connectivity going, right?
So if I have certain damage or compromisedinfrastructure on one carrier,
but I also have other carrier elements,or I have disaster recovery assets come in
(13:03):
their portable towers, my abilityto float within those,
that infrastructure
not having to think aboutwhat is performing, what isn't performing,
or my pretty consistent adageof kicking out legs of the stool.
Right?So imagine you have a multi leg stool.
And if anyone's ever–If you've ever tried to sit,
ever try to take a stool, break offtwo legs and sit on it,
it tends to not govery well with most people.
(13:26):
So providing that resiliency,providing and taking,
even sometimes when that one leg might bebrittle, might be looking
a little fragmented and you would thinkthere is no way that can help me.
Dejero's unique way that it passes dataat the packet level across each carrier,
each networksolution is really what it helps to
stand up those.So we can have a three legged stool,
(13:49):
and we can have challengeswhen the each leg of that stool.
Right? It's brittle.
It's it's high high high jitter.
It's got a low RSSI.
It's got all of these thingsthat in most traditional technology
would meanwe're not communicating in or out.
But Dejero's ability to wrap thattogether and make that a solid foundation.
(14:10):
Taking those three legs, combining
the top with Dejeroat the top of the stool means
that communication can be stabilized,and it can be functional and folks like Ben
and Winston-Salem police,who absolutely need to have visualization
of their crowd to ensure that everyone'skept in a peaceful and safe perspective.
That's what we pride ourselves on doing.
It doesn't have to bea positive environment.
(14:32):
It doesn't have to be a great environment.
It can be a little bit ugly sometimes.
And Dejero's ability to come inand make those connections
perform the way that the carrierswant them to, right?
It's really about that combined effortof how we can help create everyone's
network to be a more stable solution,and that's where smart blending comes in.
It's that combinationand that unique way that we transmit data.
(14:54):
Yeah, it's certainly a game changer
especially when you consider, you know,how you can enhance situational awareness,
with big public events.
You know, Black History Monthor concerts or political events.
Ben, take us throughhow police officers, though,
are also using this technologyto tackle crime.
I know you've talked about everythingfrom missing person cases to
(15:16):
homicide investigations.
Share with us a little bit of that.
So you know,we use it daily here in Winston-Salem
Police Department Real Time Crime Center.
The technology that we bring inhas to be brought in,
you know, through some type of network.
Fortunately for us,
a lot of the stuff we we have bringing inis on a fiber network.
(15:38):
So you know, we are solving shootingsand robberies within the Real Time
Crime Center within 15 or 20 minutesusing this technology.
It's just not the technologyit's it's the people
you have the room that understand it.
and can use the technology.
You know, for instance, you know,
just last week we had a robbery
(16:00):
take place with a stolen vehiclethat had the wrong tag on it
that was switched with another vehiclethat was involved in
a robbery that they had to switch tags.
We were able to use the technology
we have this room to
you know, find those tags, piece togetherwhat happened using analytics
and solve that.
Or at least give the investigators,you know, what they needed for them
to help solve it.
(16:21):
So the every day we're using analytics
and other types of technologiesthat's got to be brought into this room.
I could go on for days injust the last six weeks of just
the different things that we've affected.Daily, throughout this department,
we affect almost every operationsome way now. And that's
(16:43):
not a thing that comes overnightfor a Real Time Crime Center.
It takes some time
to get the officer buy in.
They got to see that it works, right?
And once they see that it worksand it helps them
solve their cases or helps us findmissing people, which is a big component.
You hear people talk about Real Time Crime Center.
Yes, that is a name.
But we we have worked an over100 missing person cases this year
(17:09):
and have affected them inand in some shape or form right here
in the Real Time Crime Center.
It doesn't work without connectivity.
And I think for for me,Dejero opens that door up
where I didn't have that option before
because I just cannot count on the,
(17:30):
you know, regular connectionor network connection
that was being used to give methe streaming video that I need.
Because we do a lot of streaming video.
It's just not a picture of a vehicleand a picture
of the tag, you know, where we havegot a thought outside the box
on how we deploy our license platereaders, versus
the traditional way of just havinga picture of the vehicle, a picture of the tag.
(17:52):
We were actually streaming video with itthat, you know, gives us identifiers
on the car,
you know, more than just the tag.
And that is helping solve crime.
You know, for instance,we had a homicide that happened,
and we had the tag on the vehicle.
We tracked the vehicle across the city.
But oftentimes that vehiclewas not hitting our tag reader,
(18:13):
but the analytics from the camera was ablewe were able to see that
one of the headlightswas dimmer than the other.
So every time it crossed,we knew we were still on the same vehicle.
So analytics are a big thing,and we got to bring those analytics in.
Of course.
So, you know,when you consider communities are growing
really across North America, that meansdepartments are also going to grow.
(18:36):
So how do you think technologyis going to play a role
with, you know, this type of expansion.
Well, I think technologyis the next evolution in police work.
You know, we were just started a Droneas a First Responder program here.
That gives you a two mile radius,you know, as the crow flies
to fly that droneand get to a incident within 90 seconds
(19:01):
of the call.They're going to beat most officers
to the call,and now we're going to be providing
real time information to those officersbased on that intelligence-
led policing model that we want,the more intelligence we put out there.
And I believe the future with technologyin police work is is going to be
the cornerstone of what police departmentsutilize to help solve crime.
(19:25):
Well, let's finish off with the questionfor the both of you.
And maybe I'll start with you first,
Rory.
And, the question is this:
What does success look like for you,
when we're talking about connectivity,public safety, you know, keeping
communities, people and property safe.
Rory? Sure.
So, you know, in in in our world,it's really
(19:47):
providing you the connectivity, right?
The coverage that you need.
And in different application usage,it's the bandwidth as well.
So sometimes it's as trivialas I just need
to be able to make and receive a call,a text message, something over Wi-Fi.
I need to be able to pull upmy records management system
or have my CAD, my Computer-Aided Dispatch,there in real time.
(20:08):
Right?Other times it's a little more robust.
It's. I need to have that body cam.That dash cam.
I need to have that license plate readerupdating with the most current reflected
database instance of challenges,
like Ben was talking aboutbefore, of these unique nuances.
So they're swapping tagsor doing different things.
Amber alerts that we all see.
You know, how fastthat information gets to you allows for,
(20:30):
and I think, Ben, you probably said this,I forgive me if I misquote you here, but
it's it's taking instinct and augmentingwith additional intelligence.
Right?
So someone who spent as much timeon the force, you get a read for people,
you get to read for situations.
However, we're all fallible.We all have our challenges.
And the more informationwe can get access to,
the more intelligence of a positionwe can take, the better our responses.
(20:53):
It's a mitigating those situationsfrom becoming bad to worse,
or it's negating a situationthat, like you had mentioned,
how many black Hondas are out therethat are doing that,
and we're trying to do, you know,everybody wants to keep people safe.
So what you do is you cast a wide net
and we will pull over every one of themto see if that's a one of challenge.
However, if you can be more precisewithin that,
we impact the public lesstheir experience is better
(21:17):
and more improved because they knowthat their peace officers are very
are workingin an extremely precise fashion.
And what you're doingjust speaks to all of that.
And that's what we like to see.
So in Dejero's world, it's coverage,
it's throughput,
but taking the things that you're doingon the cutting edge of technology,
if I have the connectivity, how muchmore creative can I get with that?
(21:39):
Hey, this is a unique solution.
We haven't considered – Droneas a First Responder, you know,
whatever that might be, an AI based LPR,it could be a run the gambit.
But if I have the connection,
all of the other ancillaries,all of the other things that would make
my Intelligence Crime Center function evenbetter, that's what we're about, right?
We're about that collaboration betweentake the communications off the table
(22:02):
and focus on the new ancillariesthat are providing the, real time
updates that you need to do your jobsbetter and more effectively to the benefit
of all of us.
I think the most important partis that it's the customers,
you know, like Winston-Salemand other police departments
that are really actually drivingthe innovation.
They're showing us what can be done.
(22:23):
And then technology companies then have toeither, you know, do modifications
or create new solutions that can supportwhat they're trying to achieve.
Ben, what do youwhat's success look like for you?
Oh, man. That's.
That's a tough question.
And you're spot on.
Obvious for the technology companies.
(22:44):
They are, and they're reaching out oftento say, hey, how can we
How can we make this better?What can we do to be in real time?
And Roy, that was a good explanation,you know, on how that all comes together.
You know, success, success for meis, you know, continuing to affect crime.
Help our solvability.
There's always going to be crime.
We need to be able to solve that crime.
(23:06):
You know, keep exploring new technologies
evolving with the technologiesbecause police departments,
you know, in the pastwere usually behind on technology.
Real Time Crime Centers has helpedpolice departments
push to the edge of technology.
now where it isand and where it's happening at.
And technology companieslike you said are trying to figure out
(23:29):
how do we fit in?
And a you can't say it enough,
connectivity is a big portion of that,
whether it's, you know,and I didn't hit on the data like before.
Again, there is data and informationthat has to be exchanged sometimes,
you know, to to provide the intelligencethat's needed out there.
So, you know, success is you know,I want to keep expanding
on what we're doing here.
(23:50):
I want us to get better at it.
And you know, at the end of the day,
I want to keep the community
of Winston-Salem safe,keep our officers safe.
That's the goal.
And I think if we keep doing the thingswe do and companies like yours
keep providing the the infrastructureto make that happen, we're just,
the sky's the limit.
Well, thank you so much to both of you
(24:11):
Ben and Roryfor joining me for this fascinating
conversation.
You're welcome.
Thanks so much for having us.
To learn more about Dejero's missioncritical solutions
for public safetyor to book a demo, head to dejero.com
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