dallas – October 19, 2006 –Multnomah County,
Ore., has completed the installation of an
upgraded and reconfigured access control system at its
JusticeCenter in downtown
Portland.
The two law enforcement agencies that share the facility leveraged their investment in the existing access control system from TAC, a world leader in security systems, building automation and energy solutions, in order to upgrade the system’s capabilities and have separate control over their individual areas in the building.The 16-story
JusticeCenter houses the
MultnomahCountyDetentionCenter and the Portland Police Bureau’s Central Precinct and administrative offices. Previously, both law enforcement agencies shared a single TAC I/NET system for building access control. Each agency used its own host computer, which was part of a LAN that communicated with 27 separate door processing units (DPU) handling access control at the
JusticeCenter.
Although the Sheriff’s Department and Police Bureau enjoyed a long-standing, cooperative relationship, the time had come for each agency to have its own access control system. The county hired Engineered Control Systems (ECS), a TAC partner based in Spokane,
Wash., to reconfigure the existing systems and to upgrade the software and hardware to address the specific needs of each agency. ECS faced a variety of challenges during installation and reconfiguration of the
JusticeCenter’s access control capabilities. For instance, escorts and background checks were required for anyone entering the area that housed the detention center. Furthermore, downtime was not an option in areas with continuous operations or those involving prisoner transport or movement.ECS merged the databases from the Police Bureau’s seven precincts and the
JusticeCenter, which included 28 separate groups and more than 2,700 different individual records, and installed TAC’s NetPlus routers in each precinct. Today, the Police Bureau uses a single computer located in the
JusticeCenter to issue access cards for that facility and the outlying precincts.
The Sheriff’s Department asked ECS to merge its detention center database with those at two other locations, its Wapato Corrections Facility and Inverness Jail. This involved more than 25 separate groups and 2,350 different individual records. ECS also upgraded all the department’s facilities to TAC I/NET with NetPlus routers.
The Sheriff’s Department now issues I/Disks to correctional employees for all three facilities from a centralized location in the
JusticeCenter. Although the satellite facilities each retained a host computer, ECS used file equalization to allow both sites to view transactions and generate reports about their own facility.“
MultnomahCounty no longer worries about system downtime or lost information,” said Dean Meyer, president, TAC. “And with separate databases, both law enforcement agencies find the new arrangement less cumbersome to manage.”“The system training and self-maintenance capabilities have given a huge advantage to a 24x7 electronic shop,” said Aaron Wilson, head of
MultnomahCounty’s electronic maintenance group. “We are incredibly pleased with the robustness and reliability of the TAC system.”
About TAC
TAC is a leading provider of building automation solutions based on Open Integrated Systems for Building IT. TAC's mission is to provide added value through building environment services for indoor climate, security and use of energy, delivered with advanced technology to end users and property owners throughout the world. With over 80 years of experience in the HVAC, building automation and security arenas, TAC employs more than 4,500 people worldwide, with partners and branches in 80 countries. TAC's parent company, Schneider Electric is the world leader in automation and electricity management, with 92,000 employees worldwide and operations in 130 countries.
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