SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - May 24, 2010) - 3VR Security, Inc., the leader in intelligent surveillance and search, today announced that Members 1st Federal Credit Union has successfully leveraged the 3VR P-Series SmartRecorder solution to cut investigation times in half and increase prosecution success with higher quality evidence. The combination of 3VR analytics, transaction integration, and advanced capture and storage techniques means the credit union's highly trained team can build a strong case in half the time it took them with its previous recording platform.
Members 1st is a sixty-year-old member-owned full service financial institution with 40 branches located in Southcentral Pennsylvania. The credit union is currently running 3VR's P-Series SmartRecorder in a quarter of its branches and is in the process of installing SmartRecorders in the remainder, with the goal of rolling out the 3VR platform throughout its entire infrastructure by 2011. On average, each branch has 22 cameras, with about half the cameras running 3VR advanced video analytics covering teller lines, ATMs, exits and backdoors. Members 1st also has a number of megapixel cameras in place so 3VR's hybrid capabilities enable the credit union to use both analog and megapixel, as well as PTZ and IP cameras in its video system as needs evolve.
Leveraging the full gamut of 3VR's sophisticated search and analytics features, Members 1st has drastically cut investigation times and captured high quality, valuable evidence to facilitate speedy and successful criminal prosecution. Security personnel are able to search by the date and time of an incident, capture the face of the perpetrator, and then search for that face throughout video captured from all branches. Alerts can also be set up to notify branch security and head office personnel if a person who has been previously tagged of interest enters any location. The credit union is also using 3VR's license plate recognition feature, which means that once they have located a suspect, they can find video of that person in the parking lot, capture an image of their car and register the license plate even from a partial plate shot, drastically increasing the chances of identifying and capturing the individual.
Members 1st also plans to integrate its Symitar transaction system, Episys®, to enable the credit union to directly connect video footage with specific transactions and search by transaction type, amount, teller or any other number of factors. Relevant video can be easily identified by this information, which is included on screen with the actual footage. This capability will save investigators and fraud analysts enormous amounts of time by avoiding the need to pour through footage second by second searching for a specific transaction.
Furthermore, the superior quality of 3VR video recordings has enabled Members 1st to supply law enforcement and prosecutors with higher quality evidence. For instance, the credit union recently stopped a scam targeting its lending department in which individuals were applying for car loans with false identifications. The perpetrators were approved for the loans using the IDs but never made payment. Using 3VR's intelligent surveillance platform, the Members 1st security team was able to locate the video footage of those transactions and pull up images of the people involved. They were then able to search across other branches for similar individuals and gather key evidence before handing the investigation over to the police.
Members 1st is also leveraging 3VR's CrimeDex online network to share the information they collect and research suspects they are monitoring. CrimeDex has proved very useful for the credit union to track criminals' activity beyond Members 1st locations. As lawbreakers rarely conduct illegal activity only within a single institution or city, this capability has proven critical to help law enforcement professionals collect the necessary evidence to build enforceable cases.
"The 3VR solution purported to do a lot of innovative things that other products had promised but ultimately failed to do. Being able to search video quickly and get sharp, clear images that we can turn directly over to law enforcement as evidence is a huge advantage," said Chip McBreen, assistant vice president, fraud and security services, Members 1st Federal Credit Union. "Video with a clear face shot is valuable evidence. The ability to then tie that face to a car and license plate number simply seals the deal."
"Members 1st is leveraging the industry's most robust surveillance technologies to great success," said Al Shipp, CEO, 3VR. "With over twenty cameras in each branch, they have the ability to go directly to the video they need using our video analytics and search."
About 3VR
3VR Security, Inc. is the global leader in Intelligent Surveillance and Search (ISS) -- a faster, more reliable, and less expensive way to fight crime, ensure people's safety and improve business efficiency. With 250 billion hours of video captured every year in the U.S., the award-winning 3VR Intelligent Surveillance Platform makes it possible to efficiently mine and manage it. 3VR is the security standard for hundreds of global customers, including leading banks, retailers, governments and law enforcement agencies. Based in San Francisco, CA, the company is privately held with funding from Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Buyers, VantagePoint Ventures, In-Q-Tel and DAG Ventures. 3VR's SmartRecorder is the three-time winner of the SIA Best New Video Product Award and was named Security Product of the Year from Frost & Sullivan in 2006 and 2007, among other awards. For more information, please visit www.3vr.com.
Contact Information:
Media Contacts:
Whitney Glockner
3VR Security, Inc.
whitney(at)3vr(dot)com
+1 415 874 2527
Dana Zemack or Virginia Zimpel
LaunchSquad
3vr(at)launchsquad(dot)com
+1 415 625 8555