Raleigh Police Department deploys Brivo ACS WebService

(14/10/2009)

Brivo Systems LLC has announced that the Raleigh, NC, Police Department (RPD) has deployed Brivo ACS WebService™ at its headquarters building and a growing number of police substations and other locations. ASG Security is the integrator on this ongoing project.

Prior to installing Brivo, the RPD utilized key pads at the entrances to some of its stations. Officers and staff gained access by entering a code, however if a non-authorized person learned the code, building security was compromised.

Gregory Curtis, ASG Security, met with RPD staff to demonstrate Brivo ACS WebService and another top-line access control system. Over the course of a series of meetings, the RPD IT Department was increasingly involved with the process and IT staff came away impressed with what the Brivo system had to offer, Curtis said.

Raleigh Police wanted to more effectively control access at all their buildings, but they wanted a system that provided both central and on-site administration so each “captain could manage their own ship,” as Curtis put it. In addition to such tiered administration, the initial planning also called for a combination of both existing keypads and new card readers.

RPD implemented Brivo ACS WebService at one of their satellite offices and assessed soon after that they did not need redundant systems, so keypads were dropped. At present, a single Brivo system manages access for about 1,000 sworn and civilian members of the RPD as well as subcontractors and other personnel, covering more than 30 access doors at 11 locations, including the downtown headquarters.

System administrators have created at least 20 different personnel groups to manage access at each location and to provide access across some or all locations for appropriate personnel. From implementation of the first Brivo system about seven years ago, RPD has steadily rolled out Brivo ACS to cover more locations. And because of excellent system performance to date, additional locations, as they come online, are planned for Brivo implementation as well.

As Curtis explained, in addition to flexible, scalable management, a big advantage for the RPD was that they did not have to invest in server capacity or software in order to get up and running - all of that is managed by Brivo. Initially, each sub-station building was managed by someone at that location, but as time has progressed, the number of administrators across the system has been reduced and more control has gravitated to the two main administrators, in the Internal Affairs Department, at headquarters.

Steve Van Till, Brivo President and CEO, reflected on this important end user of several years, “This really is a classic Brivo story: we start with one building and over time - due to our ease of use, minimal hardware expense and hassle, and the simplicity of scaling - the installation has grown whenever the RPD was ready with a new building or when they refurbished a location. Starting from one sub-station, now a single Brivo system manages 11 buildings, with more than one thousand daily interactions, in locations spread out over an entire city.”

Related topics:  Building access control system 

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