H
ollister, CA is affectionately
referred to as the “Birthplace
of the American Biker”, and
rightfully so. Every year over the 4th
of July weekend the city of Hollister,
with an average city population of
38,000 residents, plays host to a three
day motorcycle rally increasing the
residential population to over 100,000.
The Hollister Bike Rally attendee’s
include; hundreds of motorcycle clubs,
bike enthusiasts, families, as well as
Hollister community residents. The
rally is free to the public and features
motorcycle riders parading their bikes
down Main Street, live music, beer
gardens and food vendors.
Unfortunately, the rally also
brings a significant number of outlaw
motorcycle gang members to the
event, known as the 1%’ers and every
year, the Hollister Police Department
must deal with this criminal element.
With an agency size of 28 sworn
police officer positions, this can pose
a problem. With an event of this
magnitude we cannot do it alone. We
are however, fortunate that our local
law enforcement partners are there to
assist with various assignments.
In 2014, with safety as a top
priority for the annual event, Hollister
PD installed over 60 intelligent video
surveillance cameras. In 2015 we also
combined location based technology
software along with a real-time team
collaboration application that improves
situational awareness in and around
the downtown area of Hollister.
Using technologically advanced
video surveillance cameras coupled
with the use of intelligent real-time
applications and team collaboration
tools, the Hollister Police Department
revolutionized management, resource
deployment and information delivery
to provide security for the 2015
Hollister Bike Rally, resulting in a
safe event for attendees and law
enforcement.
We live in a society that has fully
embraced social media. In our personal
lives we receive information from a
variety of uncontrolled sources such
as, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
SnapChat, YouTube, etc. What this
means for a police department is
this; all of these sources are potential
feeds to provide additional situational
awareness and perspective either
incident driven or proactively. It is up
to us to arm ourselves with the best
tools