Hanwha Vision’s video surveillance solutions help Father Joe’s Villages protect homeless San Diegans

Global security company Hanwha Vision has successfully installed its Wisenet security cameras and WAVE VMS solution across the Father Joe’s Villages community, a non-profit organization with a mission to prevent and end homelessness in San Diego. With its quality yet cost-effective solutions, Hanwha Vision was able to help the organization to ensure the safety of its clients, staff, and volunteers.

♦ Challenge

Established in 1950 in a small chapel in downtown San Diego to serve San Diegans experiencing homelessness and poverty, Father Joe’s Villages has since grown to include a comprehensive campus and scattered-site programs that provide extensive housing and services. In addition to offering hope to those struggling with homelessness in San Diego, the organization has made a commitment to provide a safe and secure environment for program participants, volunteers, and employees. Although Father Joe’s collection of cameras were the best in class when purchased years ago, they had an aging, disparate analog system and it was time to step up to an innovative platform that would bring them the latest in technology. In 2016, shortly after Frank Paredes joined Father Joe’s Villages as Director of Information Technology, the organization assessed their physical security solution to determine how they could upgrade their existing collection of mix-and-match analog cameras into an overall improved video surveillance system.

♦ Solution

After an RFP process and with input from security integrators JMG Security Systems and American Security Group, Paredes and his team chose to replace their existing solution with Hanwha video surveillance cameras managed by Hanwha’s Wisenet WAVE Video Management System (VMS). They selected Hanwha not only for their cameras which provide crystal-clear images, but more importantly, the cost effectiveness of Hanwha’s overall solution. They installed cameras from the Hanwha Wisenet Q series—including the QNO-7080R 4MP Network IR Bullet Camera, QNV-7010R 4MP Network IR vandal resistant camera, and PND-9080R 4K IR dome camera—along with IP PTZ cameras such as the SNP-6320RH. Father Joe’s Villages currently operates more than 400 video surveillance cameras across their facilities including housing, program, administrative, retail, and warehouse space.

♦ Result

Paredes said they are highly satisfied with the Wisenet WAVE VMS for its great ease of use. Additionally, it has given them the capability to consolidate operations and easily manage video surveillance across the different locations. Although blocks of cameras at each different facility might have a separate NVR, they unified the system via WAVE, enabling them to call up cameras from any of the locations throughout their campus and scattered site locations. WAVE has an excellent user interface which makes it extremely easy to operate for all their users. Since it’s all drag and drop, it’s just as easy to manage for beginners as well as intermediate or advanced users. Father Joe’s Villages will soon break ground on an exciting addition—a high rise building that will double their affordable housing inventory by adding 407 units along with additional program and administrative offices. This expansion will call for the addition of over 250 cameras to their existing video surveillance system. Paredes mentioned plans to add Hanwha cameras that feature analytics as they expand the system to the new facility.