The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) has a long history of excellence born out of a commitment to making Charlotte, North Carolina one of the safest large cities in the United States. Through a range of innovative crime prevention, community intervention and enforcement strategies, the CMPD is working to reduce crime, increase safety, and develop proactive, long-term solutions to crime problems and challenges faced by the more than 800,000 city and county residents within their jurisdiction.
THE CHALLENGE
In advance of the 2012 presidential election, the city of Charlotte was chosen to host the Democratic National Convention. The event was the first nominating convention of a major party ever held in North Carolina, and it was projected to draw over 35,000 delegates and visitors. To ensure that the appropriate level of security, surveillance, and operations communications were in place, CMPD needed a complete audio/video solution that evenly distributed sound across the Command Center for weekly briefings and camera monitoring. The Command Center also required a full mixminus design for voice reinforcement.
Though designed specifically for the Democratic National Convention, the new CMPD Command Center needed to be functional and appropriate for everyday meeting and presentation use beyond the event.
THE SOLUTION
While Dean Harris of Integrated Design Solutions acted as the consultant and system integrator, ClarkPowell of Winston-Salem, North Carolina designed and built the Command Center with two adjoining conference rooms-one for the chief of police and the other for general meeting purposes. An Audia® system was chosen as the solution to CMPD’s challenge because it provided the ability to customize the I/O configuration and scale to the appropriate size for the room, while simultaneously allowing for future flexibility in the system.
Using the family of Audia products to their fullest, ClarkPowell tied all three rooms together with one large digital matrix switching system, with video conferencing capabilities in each room. The Command Center has a 3x10 (0.9m x 3m) video wall made up of ultra-slim bezel LCD displays and is equipped with 28 microphones specifically designed for use with true mix-minus audio systems.
A graduate of DeVry Institute of Technology, Doug has been in the Technology industry since 1976 and actively oversees Fearing’s daily operations. Along with his wife, Lois, and three others, Doug started Fearing’s in a 600 square-foot facility in Portage, Wisconsin. In the 25 years since, the company has grown to over 30 employees with offices in Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Doug likes to say he’s a “TV Technician with a dream� going back to his history with the family’s original business-Fearing’s TV and Appliance.
Doug values time with family, watersports, hiking, snowshoeing and skiing. In addition to being a devoted member of his church, Doug serves as Board President for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County, Board member of Schools for Haiti and Scripture Chair of the Gideons-Portage camp.
A graduate of MATC, Lois oversees Fearing’s daily book keeping along with various HR responsibilities.
Along with Doug, Lois is deeply connected to community outreach, serving as a Board member and Fundraising Committee Chairperson for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County. She also serves on the Schools for Haiti Fundraising committee. In addition, Lois’ ongoing passion and commitment to provide care for the elderly comes from her 10-year history of working in a Reedsburg, Wisconsin Nursing home.
Lois enjoys singing, hiking, sunny days on the pontoon, and spending time with her 4 grandchildren.
Ehren drives Fearing’s technology by continually seeking out trends to enhance capabilities while supporting Sales, Engineering and Installation teams. Throughout his years with Fearing’s, Ehren’s talent and vision have joined forces to create a wide variety of projects and strategic solutions that exceed expectation.
Ehren loves music, family time, movies, nature, sustainability efforts and electric vehicles.
With 10 years with Fearing’s and over twice that long in the industry, Ben continues to lead, coordinate, and develop the Commercial AV team.
By consistently delivering an outstanding experience and outcome, Ben contributes to the Fearing’s legacy of long-lasting partnerships that truly make a difference. Whatever the Commercial AV need may be, Ben and team deliver at the highest level.
Ben is an avid fisherman and photographer. He enjoys coaching his sons and other youth.
Chris has been with Fearing’s for 20 years and in the industry for over 2 decades. As a Certified leader in Sales Acceleration and trained in EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating Systems), Chris successfully utilizes his skills to lead the Fearing’s Salesforce. Chris and team are motivated and driven to develop new client partnerships while continuing to reinforce loyal long-term relationships with ongoing Service excellence.
Married for 19 years with 3 children, Chris enjoys skiing, hiking, fishing, boating, hunting, camping and golf. He’s also been actively involved as a Youth Football and Softball coach for his family and others.
