Carmel, Indiana, improves safety, coordination, and city services by consolidating in one platform
Key outcomes
- Bringing all systems into Security Center gives Carmel’s municipal departments a comprehensive, unified view of the community
- Shared data and real-time insights help first responders and other city teams coordinate emergency response and make informed decisions
- Using a single enterprise platform reduces the total cost of ownership while supporting stronger cybersecurity and smarter city operations
- A hybrid deployment approach gives Carmel the flexibility to easily expand video coverage in remote areas using Security Center SaaS
The city
Carmel is a fast-growing city north of Indianapolis in central Indiana, United States. With more than 103,000 residents, the city has become a thriving destination for businesses, residents, and visitors. It’s home to more than 120 corporate headquarters, 710 acres of parklands, and a vibrant arts and culture scene.
From its famous roundabouts-only roadways to its bustling central core and business district, Carmel thinks differently about how a modern city should work. City leaders applied that same mindset when it was time to update their physical security systems, taking the opportunity to connect departments and create a safer, more efficient community.
The challenge
As Carmel evolved into a modern city, its technology footprint grew. Video surveillance, access control, and other technologies were spread across multiple buildings and departments, creating operational siloes and growing maintenance demands.
Because Carmel’s legacy systems couldn’t keep pace with the desired improvements, the city saw the opportunity to bring city-wide systems together to improve teamwork between departments, so they could coordinate resources more effectively and respond faster to operational and public safety needs.
“Genetec Security Center offered us so many features, modules, and integrations. It allowed us to consider what’s next for our public safety and operational initiatives. As our city continues to grow with smart city technology, we’re bringing all of our data together to help our operations.”
Morgan Rinehart, Network Architect, City of Carmel
Why the City of Carmel chose Genetec
Choosing a new city-wide platform was a collaborative effort. Leaders wanted a single enterprise solution that could help various teams manage their systems and streamline operations. Input from public safety and public works to city engineering, informed the decision and ultimately, Genetec Security Center was the agreed upon choice because it met the needs of each city team.
“It became clear that Security Center would give us the most flexibility moving forward,” said Rinehart. “We saw right away that having one unified platform for our various systems would deliver immediate returns on investment. Our teams could save time and resources by managing everything from one place.”
The solution
One shared view for coordinated public safety
Public safety teams now monitor video, alarms, emergency calls, response vehicles, and IoT sensors from an interactive city map in Security Center. They work closely with first responders, who can access the same information from mobile devices.
“Security Center has become a first-line resource to gain situational awareness and handle incidents fast,” said Rinehart.
Data that helps city departments improve services
Security Center helps departments across 40+ municipal sites. With access to all the data they need in one platform, each department can make decisions that improve services and everyday experiences for businesses, residents, and visitors.
Engineering and street teams can monitor road conditions, optimize snow removal, and manage traffic during construction detours without deploying resources in the field.
The parks department can check crowd levels, facility usage, and general safety across the waterpark and trails, while the public events team can keep an eye on pedestrian traffic in community plazas and during gatherings.
Increased flexibility through a hybrid approach
When big events or temporary projects need more video coverage, the team uses the cloud-based Security Center SaaS platform to deploy mobile cameras. The team also uses Security Center SaaS to connect to systems across local schools, sports organizations, and critical infrastructure partners, enhancing response efficiency across the city.
“Having a hybrid deployment gives us a lot of flexibility. Whether cloud or on-prem, everything gets managed through the same interface, so our workflows stay the same and there’s no extra user training,” explained Rinehart.
Strong cybersecurity and support for IT
The IT team now has a centralized view of system health. They can proactively monitor device statuses, identify potential vulnerabilities, review cybersecurity insights, and handle firmware and software updates from one platform. As more IoT devices come online, the city can maintain a strong cybersecurity posture and stay resilient.
“As we add more smart city technology, Security Center gives us the foundation to bring the systems and data together. Whether it’s traffic sensors, lighting controllers, or infrastructure notifications, we have one view that improves situational awareness and helps us manage city operations more efficiently.”
Morgan Rinehart, Network Architect, City of Carmel
Results
One of the biggest benefits of working from a shared platform is how easily Carmel can coordinate resources during daily operations and emergencies. For example, when a rare tornado struck Carmel, teams used Security Center to quickly map the storm’s path and understand the impact across the community. They assessed damage, identified the hardest-hit areas, and then dispatched responders, utility crews, and public works resources where they were needed most.
Carmel plans to keep linking more systems from critical infrastructure sites and community partners using Security Center SaaS. The parking department is working on integrating a new parking enforcement solution, and the parks department is expanding access management. As part of this expansion, they’ll automate onboarding and offboarding for seasonal waterpark employees by integrating their workforce management system into the security system.
“By bringing all our departments onto one city-wide platform, we’ve reduced complexity. The result is better decisions for our community, higher response efficiency, and more cost-effective operations that benefit our residents,” concluded Rinehart.