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Security cameras follow the action on the streets

Pelican Technologies’ software enhances surveillance systems

Gary Moore (left) and Tom Struckman run Pelican Technologies, which specializes in software to connect a network of security cameras for better coverage of an area or use with gunshot detection systems.

Ty Greenlees/Staff Photographer Gary Moore (left) and Tom Struckman run Pelican Technologies, which specializes in software to connect a network of security cameras for better coverage of an area or use with gunshot detection systems.

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By Thomas Gnau, Staff Writer 11:06 PM Saturday, March 13, 2010

DAYTON — No one needs to convince William Richert, a police captain in South Gate, Calif., that Dayton-based Pelican Technologies is on to something.

Richert’s police department has used the company’s software since late 2009, and it already has helped officers in the Los Angeles suburb catch two murder suspects, said Richert.

If it sees and seeks, Pelican Technologies can help it see and seek better.

Software developed by Pelican has been integrated into the South Gate’s license plate video detection system, telling cameras to point in a certain direction when alerted, Richert said. For example, an alert to dispatch will trigger cameras to focus on a certain area or direction — in this case, the license plate of two suspects, according to Richert.

Those suspects are now in custody in Los Angeles County, Richert said. He declined to name the two before their trials, saying he did not want defense attorneys to subpoena video evidence.

“I could give you a lot more stories like that where this software has helped,” Richert said.

Gary Moore and Tom Struckman started Pelican five years ago. Today, the two have found a home in Dayton’s Tech Town business park off East Monument Avenue.

Pelican doesn’t make cameras but the software that directs cameras, particularly “PTZ” (Pan, Tilt, Zoom) cameras, freeing dispatchers and security personnel for other tasks. The two also write RFID (radio frequency identification) software.

Customers so far have included South Gate police and the U.S. Marine Corps.

Moore and Struckman say they’re aware of ethical concerns regarding cameras, particularly in urban environments. But their view is: If you commit a crime, you’ve lost any right to privacy.

“When a (gun)shot hits, we spin the appropriate cameras in the appropriate direction,” Moore said.

Pelican is talking with city governments in Youngstown and Saginaw, Mich., which either have or are installing a “ShotSpotter” system, an “event detection” program that finds where gunshots are fired. Pelican’s technology is designed to work with that and other systems.

Even if a community doesn’t have problems with gun crimes, the firm’s software works with more basic security systems, too. It can work with 911 systems, license plate cameras, motion sensors, laser-beam “fences” and more.

The idea is to follow events as they happen, where they happen.

“If someone fires a gun, the idea of them standing still for long is not likely,” Struckman said.

In South Gate, the company’s software is working with three surveillance systems, Richert said.

If a shot goes off, cameras controlled by Pelican’s technology automatically will point in the direction of the gunshot. “Pelican’s technology is what tells the cameras to turn,” Richert said.

In a month’s time, the software has helped officers arrest 10 to 15 suspects, Richert said.

Pelican Technologies

Product: Software to speed and direct video surveillance and security systems, RFID software.

Customers: South Gate, Calif., police. Discussions with departments in the Boston and Youngstown areas.

Employees: Two full-time, one part-time

Revenue: 2008, around $125,000. In 2009 revenue fell 30 percent to 40 percent (“We took a hit because of the economy,” said Gary Moore, Pelican co-founder.)

2010 projection: Hoping to hit $250,000.

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