The Cherish Center provides education and advocacy for children related to abuse and neglect. By conducting forensic interviews, The Cherish Center works to prevent, aid in response to and stop child abuse from happening. Since its inception in August 2009, this non-profit organisation in Noblesville, Indiana has served more than 450 abuse cases.

By state and federal law, any allegation of child abuse must be investigated. Therefore, The Cherish Center has two forensic interview rooms to accommodate these requirements. The state-of-the-art child forensic interviewing facility is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week for law enforcement officers and trained child forensic interviewers to conduct interviews with children and teens. The interview rooms provide a home-like environment where the children feel relaxed. Due to the importance of the information and behavior in the interviews, The Cherish Center needed a video surveillance system that would enable them to effectively monitor and review the activity taking place in the facility and host an increasing number of abuse case investigations.

Originally, The Cherish Center had a DVR recording system, which became very antiquated to operate. Often times, interviewers would forget to push the start button to record the interview. To best serve the children, The Cherish Center decided to install an up-to-date, advanced surveillance system. They wanted a system that could store video for much longer periods of time and have redundancy.The Cherish Center Executive Director Wendy Rayburn researched new surveillance solutions and contacted Nelson Alarm, a local security integrator, for their expertise.

The Cherish Center’s new Exacqvision A-series IP camera server came pre-installed with Exacqvision Professional VMS software for easy out-of-the-box deployment. With 2 Tb of storage, their Exacqvision server has a much greater storage capacity than their previous system, allowing them to record and store several weeks of audio and video at a time. Often, the investigation of a case will bring new evidence out months after the interview was conducted.

"One of the biggest benefits of the Exacqvision surveillance system is the ability to keep more recorded video. We are able to go back and quickly find clips from interviews conducted months ago and provide to the court as new evidence in the investigation," Rayburn commented.

Four Axis 1.2 megapixel IP cameras were installed to cover the lobby, hallway and two interview rooms. With the expanded coverage, police officers can spearhead situations of angry parents entering the facility or other activity outside the interview rooms. Now, they are capable of tracking intruders before a problematic situation occurs by viewing each camera simultaneously on the Exacqvision Professional client software. The Exacqvision solution ensures the employees, interviewers and children in the team interview room and review room are safe without the need for a security officer.

"A lot of cases come in at night to conduct the interview," said Rayburn. "With our cameras and Exacqvision software, we know where parents are at all times and can prevent any interruptions to the interview."

Also, the combination of Axis IP cameras and Exacqvision Professional VMS software provided police officers and child forensic interviewers with the ability to better psychologically scrutinise the interviews. With the digital PTZ control, they can zoom in on the child’s facial expressions while maintaining a high quality image to fully transcribe the feelings and reactions in more depth. The quality of the video, ability to capture the details and review in live and recorded mode has created new ways to investigate each case. This helps them discover findings that they may have missed when conducting the interview.

"With the clear detail the Axis cameras and Exacqvision VMS software provide, we are better able to see non-verbal responses in real time" said Rayburn. "It has provided the team with the ability to identify potential indicators of risk that we could not do with other VMS solutions."

With the Exacqvision solution, The Cherish Center is able to conduct interviews in both of their interview rooms simultaneously, where they could not with their previous surveillance system. Also, the time it takes them to conduct and review the video has decreased by 50 percent.

The Exacqvision surveillance solution is scalable and can expand as The Cherish Center sees more demand. It allows for the addition of cameras as The Cherish Centers needs grow and change. In the future, the organisation plans to add more cameras to the parking lots and exterior of the facility. Overall, the capabilities of the Exacqvision solution fit their specific needs. As a result, the Exacqvision surveillance solution provides The Cherish Center with a safe, nurturing and productive environment for child victims and their families.