The Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim is Southern California’s premier entertainment and sports venue. Located in Anaheim, the 650,000-square-foot arena facility hosts a variety of first-class events each year including concerts, sporting events and family shows, and is home to both the NHL Mighty Ducks and the NLL Anaheim Storm.

The Arrowhead Pond also hosts the prestigious John R. Wooden Classic, and stages numerous annual events including the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, the World Wrestling Entertainment and the Harlem Globetrotters. The facility’s reputation and continued efforts to maintain a family oriented entertainment environment is largely the responsibility of the Arrowhead Pond’s security staff operating under the direction of Russell Beecher, Security / Public Safety Manager at the Arrowhead Pond.

Mr. Beecher and his staff rely on their high performance Panasonic Video Security and Surveillance System to help maintain a vigilant watch over the facility and the property surrounding the facility. Ken Jacobs, President and CEO of JMG Security Systems has been involved with the security systems at the Arrowhead Pond since construction of the massive facility began in 1991. “We got involved early with the contractors when they started building the facility by securing their trailers. JMG was a fairly young company at the time and we worked real hard to get on the bid list,” said Mr. Jacobs.

“We started running cable as the frame of the building was going up and completed the original system when the facility opened in 1993. Since then, the system has been upgraded to include Panasonic Digital Video Recorders, Dome Camera Systems and the Matrix System 550,” said Mr. Jacobs. “The system has been enhanced to provide complete coverage of the parking facilities using four Panasonic WV-CW864 Dome Camera Systems mounted on the roof. With these four cameras, we achieve 360 degree coverage of the building’s exterior and complete coverage of the parking lots.”

“The Panasonic WV-CW864 Dome Cameras have been impressive since day one. Over time we’ve had to make some adjustments as the palm trees continued to grow taller and obscure certain areas, but we have repositioned cameras to maximize our coverage,” said Mr. Beecher, who has now been employed by the Arrowhead Pond for over two years. “The picture quality is excellent very clear
even when zooming in on distant objects. They are excellent.”

Panasonic’s WV-CW864 Outdoor Vandal-Resistant Dome Camera Systems are highly regarded as the most advanced dome camera system available. The units feature an advanced CCD camera, 22x optical zoom lens, and a rotating chassis packed into an all-in-one sleek unit. The WV-CW864 Dome Camera Systems’ Super Dynamic II capabilities deliver a dynamic range 64 times greater than conventional cameras to provide excellent images under highly contrasted lighting conditions. In addition, the units offer Day/Night operation capable of providing color images in light as low as
1lux (0.1fc), and black and white images in as little as 0.03lux (0.003fc). Additional features include full 360° horizontal rotation, 190° vertical pan, and 300°/second speed; Privacy Zone Masking and Patrol Learn features; digital motion detection;
an “image hold” function to minimize image distortion during fast motion transitions; plus many more high performance features.

“The cameras are invaluable to the parking lot area,” continued Mr. Beecher. “They
are invaluable when we have minor hit and runs. We determine the approximate time that the incident occurred and identify a vehicle, or if we catch it live, we will actually wait for the car to drive away and zoom in on the license plate. Then we simply give the information to the police and they proceed with their investigation.

It also helps us counter false claims of activity in the parking lot where the cameras have proved that
nothing occurred. The cameras covering the parking lots are invaluable. We just don’t have the man
power to place a guard every 25 feet to 30 feet across, but the cameras give us that ability electronically.”

The Anaheim Police Department also uses the Arrowhead Pond’s surveillance system to keep an eye out for suspicious activity. A second control location is available to the police where they can control cameras for spot surveillance.

The Panasonic WV-CW864 Dome Cameras allow them to zoom in and closely monitor suspicious activity outside the facility when events are being held. This allows the police officers in the control room to communicate and direct officers patrolling the perimeter of the Arrowhead Pond to specific locations with specific descriptions of suspects.

The Arrowhead Pond’s Matrix System 550 controls all of the facility’s camera feeds, monitor assignments and recorders used to cover the facility. The system operates on a digitally driven platform with powerful processing capabilities using a building block of 128 camera inputs, 16 monitor outputs, and 8 control locations.

The Arrowhead Pond’s extensive camera processing capabilities allow Mr. Beecher’s staff to program multiple camera coverage sequences and automatically All of the Arrowhead Pond’s cameras are recorded 24/7 on Panasonic Digital Video Recorders. The DVRs are configured on a network so the units can be controlled from any location in the facility.“The network also allows me to call up any DVR and camera recording from home or any remote location,” said Mr. Beecher. “If I have a particular concern and can’t physically be at the facility, I have the flexibility to access the system from virtually anywhere.”

“We also use Panasonic WV-CS854 Dome Cameras inside the arena. Our staff has
the ability with just four cameras to monitor the whole crowd. We can literally pick up any seat in the building. JMG worked closely with Panasonic’s team to determine the best locations for the dome systems,” continued Mr. Beecher. “If anything goes on the ice during a hockey game for example, we take immediate action.

Professional hockey players are worth millions of dollars, and we don’t want them to
get injured because something’s been thrown on the ice. Kids are kids and they love
to throw paper airplanes. As soon as we see the first paper airplane hit the ice, we
send a security person to the area and address the situation.”   “We strive to maintain a family atmosphere, but you sometimes get fans using profanity.

If we get a complaint, we can positively identify who is causing the problem and dispatch our staff to issue a warning. Then we watch the offenders with the cameras to make sure they comply. If they continue, we send ushers and the security personnel to remove them. We understand that crowds can get enthusiastic at hockey games, but we try to make sure they always stay under control,” continued Mr. Beecher.

“The lights are turned down during most of our events – especially during concerts where it can be very dark in the seating areas,” said Mr. Beecher. “With the Super Dynamic performance of the Panasonic cameras, we can still monitor the crowd and get a clear indication if there’s a problem in the stands, although our biggest concerns are generally with the exterior of the facility during concerts.”