Motorola to Philly Police: You want a public safety 4G broadband network for video surveillance

Motorola put on something of a show at the Police Academy last week, hoping to gain support and funding for a secured, private, public safety 4G broadband network for video surveillance.
Motorola representatives, including Rishi Bhaskar, vice president of solutions, demoed the video equipment, highlighting prioritization, quality and need in a conference room, before showing off a Philadelphia Police patrol car equipped with the equipment.
Depending on the build out, the network would support high-quality video in police and other first responder vehicles, allowing for dispatcher prioritization to reduce stress on the system, Bhaskar said. First responders would be equipped with an emergency button so that they could automatically call for video coverage of, say, pulling over a driver with a violent history.
“This is an investment in public safety,” Bhaskar said.
Though held at the academy on State Road in the Northeast, no Philadelphia Police Department officials were present. Rather, Bhaskar said Motorola had presented the technology to police and city brass earlier in the day. The day’s presentation was a hope to garner support for the project from the city, which Bhaskar said is a ‘long-time client of Motorola.’
The technology has already been deployed in [Updated: though the contract has been awarded, the technology has not yet been launched in Harris County, Texas] Harris County, Texas and the San Francisco area, said spokesman Matthew Messinger, noting that the latter was funded by a $50 million grant that Motorola matched and included an institutional public component that benefited places like hospitals and schools.