HOLLYWOOD, Fla.— “We want to partner with integrators to bring solutions to end users, and GE is prepared to put all its considerable might behind this effort. We are just getting started.”
Those comments, delivered via videotaped message from GE CEO Jeff Immelt, reflected the overall theme as the company held its 17th annual GE Security Customer Conference and Workshop June 7-10 at Hollywood, Fla.’s Westin Diplomat Resort and Spa.
Playing off the theme “Advancing Technology. Our Relationships. Your Business,” the 2004 event saw close to 1,000 integrators, end users and other attendees spend four days immersed in presentations, breakout sessions, training, exhibits and social gatherings.
One of the most dramatic presentations was by a captain from the Los Angeles Police Department’s (LAPD) infamous Rampart Division that detailed the huge impact a seven-camera surveillance system donated by GE and installed by Hamilton Pacific has made in the city’s MacArthur Park. In just a few months’ time, the once pastoral centerpiece that had deteriorated into a crime-ridden cesspool has begun a renaissance.
“This system represents as big of a change and help to law enforcement as the radio was 50 years ago,” said Capt. Charles Beck, who added he looked forward to expanding the use of cameras and hoped to deploy facial recognition technology in the future.
