Cameras for cabbies - Security News Desk · Security Media Publishing Ltd PO Box 5231, Lichﬁ eld WS14 4EB United Kingdom CCTV Image is published six times a year on behalf of the

Public attitude to CCTV? Actually they quite like it The CCTV User Group commissioned a public opinion survey to assess support for CCTV, with rather reassuring results

FIND critical evidenceReviewing CCTV footage is laborious but the results of a collaborative research project may change that

Also in this issue• More conference review • Video walls & analytics • The ups & downs of video management systems • And more...

www.cctvusergroup.comAutumn 2010

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE CCTV USER GROUP

Cameras for cabbiesGravesend tells us about a scheme to equip all taxis in their area with CCTV

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C C T V I m a g eEditor-in-Chief: Peter FryCCTV User GroupTel. +44(0)1202-707552Fax +44(0)[email protected] join the CCTV User Group, please contact the Group on the number above.

Editor: Tom ReeveTel. +44(0)20-8255 [email protected] Please email press releases and articles to the editor or mail them to: CCTV Image, PO Box 795A, Surbiton, KT5 8YB United Kingdom

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Administrative correspondence: Security Media Publishing LtdPO Box 5231, Lichfi eld WS14 4EBUnited Kingdom

CCTV Image is published six times a year on behalf of the CCTV User Group by Security Media Publishing Ltd. Members of the CCTV User Group receive it free of charge. Subscriptions: If you don’t receive a regular copy of CCTV Image, you can subscribe by sending a cheque made payable to “Security Media Publishing Ltd” to the administrative offi ce. Annual subscription rates: UK – £25; Europe – £35; Rest of world – £45

The CCTV User Group does not endorse any product or service advertised or mentioned in this publication. While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the content, neither the CCTV User Group nor Security Media Publishing Ltd can be held liable for mis-statements or inaccuracies contained herein.

© 2010 Security Media Publishing Ltd/CCTV User Group. Printed by Synergy Print Management Ltd

Autumn 2010

Welcome & Newsby Peter Fry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

NewsPublic opinion survey: What are the attitudes to CCTV? . . . . 10

CCTV User Group conference . . . . . . 12

Rooms with a ViewCabs with a view: How can you protect lone drivers? . . . 17

Features FIND: The analytics solutionto video search and identifi cation . . . . 21

The state of regulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Technology: Video displays. . . . . . . . . 27

Technology: Video analytics . . . . . . . . 30

Blame the software, not the hardwareWhere video management falls down. . . 34

Case study: Regent’s College. . . . . . . . . . 36

ColumnsMartin Gill on CCTV research . . . . . . 38

Talking Shop with Simon Lambert . . . 40

PlusIndustry news . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Directory of companies . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

T a b l e o f C o n t e n t s | C C T V I m a g e

10 A survey by the User Group finds the public is more support-ive of CCTV surveillance than the media would have us believe

17 After a local taxi driver was murdered, police and the local authority secured funding to put cameras in all licensed vehicles

21 Will the task of searching hours of recorded video for evi-dence become easier as a result of a £1 million research project?

30 We all love the idea of video analytics – computers that can “see” – but making it work can be far trickier than it might seem

No. 41

AN INDEPENDENT PUBLIC OPINION SURVEY ON THE USE AND VALUE OF CCTV

IN PUBLIC AREAS COMMISSIONED BY THE CCTV USER GROUP AND UNDERTAKEN BY RNS

RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL

The CCTV User Group Leading, Working, Delivering for all CCTV Users

Councils cut back on CCTV to save money?

The Public fight back with their views!

Is the Safety of the Community at Risk?

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Welcome and NewsGovernment cuts lead to the irreplaceable loss of CCTV expertise

Peter Fry,Director, CCTV User Group

THE CCTV User Group has always been about the ‘human aspects’ of the manage-ment and opera-

tion of CCTV systems rather than the tech-nology, and we value each member of the Group as an individual, many of whom have been members right from our inaugural meeting in 1996.

Obviously over the last 15 years, many members have moved on to other chal-lenges, but over the last few weeks it has been exceptionally depressing for me to see the number of highly respected, extremely professional CCTV Managers, who have contributed so much to the profession over the years, leaving through early retire-ment or redundancy. People like Graham Putt and Peter Bowerbank (Darlington), Keith Baldock (Newham), Norman Whaley (Croydon), will be sorely missed by their authorities and be hard acts to follow for anyone taking on their roles.

But I for one of many wish them well, and hope they keep in touch and they find ‘retirement’ gives them the opportunity to take on new challenges without the ‘politi-cal hassle’ found in Local Authorities, as I did on retirement in 1998. A decision I have

never regretted, and now doing a job that challenges me daily, but I love.

The ‘Big Issue’My sincere thanks go to all those members who responded to my survey on the future of CCTV Image, should it be a hardcopy version as at present or an online, web based magazine? The results were conclusive, over 90% of respondents wanted to retain their hard copy, and 10% preferred the ‘greener’ option of an electronic version.

The principal reasons appeared to be that a hard copy could be passed to their bosses, the operators, left in the reception area, read on the bus, tube, train, or over lunch at their leisure, without having to sit at a computer screen for yet more hours, and could be kept for future reference. Advertisers did not feel electronic versions had anything like the same marketing impact, and were equally in favour of the hard copy version even if it cost them more to advertise.

But we have to be conscious of the eco-nomic climate and, like the User Group, the magazine can only exist if it is economically viable and marketing budgets tend to be hit in times of constraint. So at a meeting in August, I suggested to the publishers that we temporarily return to four issues per year rather than the current six. Our intention is to retain the quality and approach of what has become ‘the flagship magazine’ of the CCTV Industry.

We do appreciate the economic problems CCTV companies are facing, and greatly

appreciate the support they give us, and so would strongly ask you to continue your support of it and the User Group as a service to all our members, and its wider distribu-tion.

Discussion forumYes, I know I have been promising this now for several years, but on moving to Poole I found an IT expert who knows forums inside out, and so commissioned him to sort out all the problems with it and get it up and running. And the great news is he has now sorted the major issues both on the forum and on the main site, and is doing a bit more work on other improvements, and I can actually see light at the end of the tunnel.

So what does it mean to members? Firstly every member will be able to access it as it is hosted on the main User Group website rather than Yahoo (which many authorities do not allow their systems to connect to ) so rather than just 250 people involved we will now be able to have the full membership of over 800 individuals. Hosting it on the same website means we can use the membership database already on that to govern access so usernames and passwords will be the same as the main site, saving your memory, and us at the User Group a lot more hassle!

Secondly there is no limit to the number of forums it can host, and so there will be one (like Yahoo) which can be used by all mem-bers, but another which can only be accessed by ‘end user’ CCTV Managers, so they can

C C T V I m a g e | W e l c o m e a n d N e w s

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The CCTV User Group commissioned an independent public opinion survey on public attitudes to CCTV recently. Firstly my deepest thanks go to the members of our ‘Action team’ who assisted so much in the development of the questions and narrative for the survey, and equally to all the sponsors of the survey without whose financial sponsorship the survey would have been way beyond our means.

The survey cost £6,300 (Ex VAT) and we received total sponsorship of £5,000 (ex VAT), so the User Group funded the remaining £1,300, just within our means.

So a great cheer to BT Recare, Metronet UK, G4S, Tyco Integrated Systems, Link CCTV Systems, Samsung, Broadland Guarding, Colchester Borough Council, Nottingham City Council, Gedling Borough Council for their support to CCTV managers throughout the UK.

The survey of over 1000 randomly selected members of the public yielded invaluable informa-tion about public attitudes, information which would come as a surprise to our critics in the media if they would read it. (And if they don’t like words, there’s plenty of pretty pie charts like the one on the right.)

The full survey report can be downloaded from the home page of our website at www.cctvusergroup.com. Or you can read the abbreviated version starting on page 10 plus my open letter to the Home Secretary.

PUBLIC ATTITUDES First-ever User Group survey of public attitudes to CCTV

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freely talk about issues which might be contractually sensitive. There is a separate one for the Chairman, Vice Chairman and Members of the UK CCTV Standards Board, and another intended to be used by ‘Action Group’ working Parties.

CROPSGetting the discussion forum working also means we can now progress the ‘Control Room Operators Group’ giving every operator the opportu-nity to network with his colleagues, and some of the benefits of being a member of the CCTV User Group. It also means we can better represent them and all users of CCTV with organisations like the SIA (assuming that the SIA does survive Government Quango cuts). The idea has been warmly welcomed by many members and was strongly encouraged by the SIA and many operator provider and training companies.

Why Control Room Operators Group rather than CCTV Operators Group? Because many Control Rooms are now multi-functional with Careline, alarm monitoring, building management, key holding, lone worker monitoring, out of hours emergency, traffic enforcement, town centre management, and there is much the operators can learn from their colleagues in a similar manner to the way the User Group has facilitated managers networking.

We do stress this is not an ‘operators union’ in the same way that the User Group does not get involved with such issues for managers, and the forum will be moderated to ensure no inappropriate topics are raised.

We appreciate that cash strapped authorities would not be able to fund

all their operators (although some companies have asked for a ‘corpo-rate’ rate to include all their operators which we will provide) and so we are keeping membership costs to an absolute minimum. Initially the first two months of membership will be free so operators can ‘try before they buy’ and thereafter £50 +VAT per year or if paid monthly, £5+VAT per month. So we would appreciate you bringing this to their attention and as always our contact is [email protected].

Government decision-making But what is happening on the ground in the absence of Government deci-sions? It seems to me that in the absence of direction by the Government, the owners and managers of systems are being forced to reach their own local decisions, to try and address the other challenges they know they face in terms of meeting significant cuts in their overall budgets. Daily in the press and media we hear of Public Area CCTV systems ‘under threat’, in a variety of ways. But what do these mean in practice?

1. The loss of decades of practical experience of professional CCTV managers through retirement or redundancy, with their duties being passed on to other managers who might have no knowledge of the complexity of the legislation or management issues they will have to face, will be a major challenge to any authority, and hold many potential risks.

The professional ‘public body CCTV’ manager performs many unseen duties including critically, a vital role in ensuring and protecting privacy and civil liberty.

N e w s a n d W e l c o m e | C C T V I m a g e

I had hoped that by now, five months after the General Election, we would have a good indication of those critical issues which have been on the minds of all CCTV managers for the last year or more, but at the time of writing we still have no indication! Where is the National CCTV Strategy going? What is going to happen to the Regulation of CCTV? But government purdah has meant no one, civil servants, ministers, or MP’s have been permitted to speak about them. All we have to go on are a few debates at Westminster and some rumours which may or may not have a factual base!

A couple of indications which have been more formally com-mented upon by Ministers are a suggestion that the National Policing Improvement Agency (one of their tasks was to help develop the National CCTV Strategy), and the Security Industry Authority (responsible for the licensing of Public Spaces CCTV Operators) are to be axed.

The National Police Improvement AgencyNow, I ‘m not aware of many (if any) who will mourn the loss of the NPIA (often described to me by Police Officers as an acronym for ‘No Point In Asking’), which has in many peoples eyes been a total failure in involving the experts in the management and operation of public area CCTV, the CCTV Managers who actually have the expe-rience of running the systems.

In doing so they also failed to build upon the fantastic work done by DCC Graeme Gerrard in identifying the need for the strategy, prepar-ing the original framework and tirelessly driving it forward against all the trials and tribulations of the civil servants and Government. One thing the NPIA should be commended for however was their significant financial support to the strategy process (about £500,000) when no one else seemed interested in doing so, but did they spend it wisely or effectively!

Unfortunately, in a similar manner to the way the NPIA previously gave their view of the relevance of RIPA to CCTV (which was uni-versally considered inappropriate by the Surveillance Commissioners and Information Commissioners as well as the User Group), they prefer to use their own ‘expertise’ rather than consult or involve.

I hope the demise of the NPIA will provide Graeme the opportunity to utilise the skills and expertise of the CCTV managers to develop the strategy to the definitive document it should be.

The loss of the SIAIn contrast, there has been virtually universal condemnation in the proposals to scrap the Security Industry Authority. Why? It is virtually self financing (unlike the many millions the loss of NPIA would save) and whilst there were obvious teething problems, it has achieved more in the relatively short time of its existence in building up common professional standards, and regulation of the security industry, renovating the industry’s reputation from the depths it had sunk to in the ‘90s

In terms of public area CCTV, it introduced (in consultation and with the full support of the CCTV User Group and PCMA who assisted in framing the definitions and training requirements) the first, and most critical step of regulation, that of ensuring the ‘human’ element controlling the system act within the law and to professional standards. They are the only part of a CCTV system that can poten-tially infringe on the privacy of those who are being watched, and are the main risk to CCTV losing the massive public support it currently benefits from. Regulation ensures they are properly trained, fully aware of all the legislation affecting the use of CCTV, and have had security clearance.

Our only criticism is that licensing has not been extended to include in-house staff (although many CCTV managers have voluntarily ensured their in-house staff have also done the training, and obtained the license) and strongly believe this really could be done easily and cheaply, which in itself would answer many of the governments con-cerns over privacy issues in public area CCTV.

Scrapping an established organisation which has helped to drasti-cally improve the standard of CCTV and other security disciplines, at the same time the Government is planning to regulate the CCTV industry, appears to be a bad case of ‘cutting off your nose to spite your face’!

THE NATONAL PICTURE What of the National Policing Improvement Agency and the SIA?

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Public area CCTV needs professional, full-time management to retain public confidence and support and it is not a role which can be satisfied by part time involvement or others who already have a full time job with other duties.

2. Total closure of some public area CCTV systems have been pro-posed, but in each case I am aware that Councillors have been forced to review their decision by public pressure. Much media criticism has also occurred when financial constraints have reduced maintenance and resulted in cameras not working to record evidence of incidents in the town. Closure would not remove all CCTV costs as there are contractual commitments that still have to be honoured.

3. Reduction of monitoring hours has been proposed in some areas, leaving the cameras merely on record. But with no human controlling the camera, it can only record where it is looking, a small fraction of the 360 degrees it usually has to cover. Evidential quality images are unlikely to be obtained.

4. Many CCTV managers carry out recording reviews to identify for the police incidents they might be interested in. They know their system, the inter-relationship of the cameras and all the procedures, something the average PC ‘on the beat’ has little knowledge of.

5. I have heard of several systems now considering volunteer opera-tors rather than professionals, and I would urge considerable caution in this approach. Yes it does work in some areas, but how many would volunteer for the night shift? What training do they get? CCTV operation is a professional task requiring considerable depth of knowledge of all the legislation and procedures, something that even the SIA considered required 30 hours training before they could operate a camera and many authorities supplement this by a further three months of training before they are allowed to fly solo!

6. Possibly the most concerning innovation is using volunteer opera-

tors working from home monitoring cameras over the internet. What CRB checks are carried out? What controls are placed on them? What training and knowledge do they have? It might be acceptable for the corner shops as at present, that’s up to the owner (until images go on Facebook or some other internet site) but never, ever for public space monitoring!

All these options carry great risks for the owner of the system! Each of them reduces the effectiveness of the system, and from experience of some systems following these routes could result in increased crime levels. However the risk of breaches of privacy and human rights through lack of knowledge or expertise could also risk the reputation of the authority.

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The CCTV User Group commissioned an independent poll of public opinion on attitudes to CCTV and found that the public were worried that cuts in CCTV funding would result in more crime and disorder in their areas and make them feel less safe

Open letter to the Home Secretary P u b l i c s u r v e y | C C T V I m a g e

COULD THE government live with a 30 per cent increase in crime? The CCTV User Group, the largest representative body for users of Public Area CCTV, believes that Public Area CCTV Cameras are now facing a combination of circumstances, the cumulative effect of which may lead to a dramatic reduction or even cessation of CCTV cover across the country. Whilst this may bring joy to a few the title of this letter gives a clear indication of the possible consequences of such a course of events.

The title is not intended to be scaremongering, fanciful or alarm-ist. There is a factual precedent for such an increase – Lisburn, Northern Ireland, was forced to close its Public Area CCTV because of funding difficulties. Additional funding was subsequently found to re-open it but during the intervening period crime in that area rose by over 30 per cent. Whilst it would be wrong to take one example as the norm it does provide a clear indication of the potential for sig-nificant increases in crime. Other systems threatened with closure, have only been reprieved after a massive public outcry.

CCTV is the most effective tool being used by Local Authorities to meet their responsibilities under the Crime and Disorder Act, and in doing so it has achieved many thousands of arrests, and greatly assists post incident investigations.

The CCTV User Group believes that there are three major issues:

1. Perception of public area CCTV The increasingly negative way in which Public Area CCTV is being presented by both the press and media, together with a number of self-appointed groups allegedly set up to ‘protect’ the public from the so-called ‘surveillance society’. This negative publicity is inevi-tably colouring both the public and political perception of CCTV, despite the fact that it is frequently based on incomplete, inaccurate or wrongly interpreted data.

Nonetheless, the CCTV User Group actually welcomes the fact that there is such scrutiny of Public Area CCTV. Group Members, within the constraints of relevant legislation, wish Public Area CCTV to be as open and accountable as possible about their activi-ties. Our survey shows that the actual opinions of the public are diametrically opposite the perceptions portrayed in the media and are extremely supportive of it.

2. The financial situation The CCTV User Group is very mindful of the country’s current and projected financial constraints and understands that no public serv-ice will be immune from them. Local Authority public area CCTV is generally regarded as a ‘non-statutory’ service provision and as such may be particularly vulnerable to budgetary cuts, for example by reduced level of cover, reduction of monitoring services or total cessation of the service.

The core role of most such systems is crime and disorder preven-tion, detection or reduction and the primary partner or stakeholder is the Police. Clearly the Police service is also subject to the financial pressures and reduced budgets. This will have an effect on their ‘frontline’ service delivery and the assistance of public area CCTV to help police carry out their role will become ever more criti-cal at a time when some public area CCTV may also be reduced. Consciously or otherwise, for the past fifteen years the presence of an extensive network of public area CCTV has played a major part in the formulation of local policing plans and staffing levels. The potential result brought about by the reduction of both services is self-evident.

3. Legislation and regulation of CCTV Since its formulation in 1996, the CCTV User Group has been con-cerned about the lack of specific legislation or regulation relating to the installation and use of CCTV in all its forms. Having initially allocated many millions of pounds for public area CCTV, succes-sive political administrations have either failed to acknowledge or failed to grasp the nettle of legislation or regulation and as a conse-quence it has been left to bodies such as the CCTV User Group and others to formulate policies and protocols for its use.

The User Group welcomed the publication of a National Strategy for CCTV by the Home Office in 2007 and offered its support. Unfortunately, publicly there appears to have been little progress to implement the recommendations contained within it and the uncertainty regarding the future of the NPIA, the body tasked with implementation of the CCTV Strategy, though understandable in the current financial climate, is further cause for concern.

The appointment of Andrew Rennison as Interim Regulator was also warmly welcomed as the first step to regulation. The current lack of legislation, regulation and coherent policy over the past dec-ade has resulted in an organic growth of public area CCTV, often without any clear assessment of why it was being installed, where it was being installed or for what reason.

We appreciate the concerns of a minority (see below) over the poten-tial of CCTV to infringe upon privacy and were influential in assisting the SIA in the licensing of Public Space CCTV operators (an objective we strongly supported). CCTV equipment itself cannot infringe upon privacy - it is the human element - and we suggest strongly the licens-ing regime be extended to in-house operators as well as contracted operators to ensure public area CCTV is only operated by profession-ally trained staff, to yet further increase public confidence. We under-stand the legislation was drafted but never presented to Parliament.

The net result is that public area CCTV has been left in a vulner-able position, open to attack and criticism and unable to defend itself adequately by clearly demonstrating its effectiveness.

Each of the issues outlined above are individual causes for con-cern. Added together they have the potential to cause irreparable damage.

Leading, Working, Delivering for all CCTV Users

The CCTV User Group

Commissioned by The CCTV User Group – Contact [email protected] - All Copyright © 2010 retained : Page 25

Acknowledgements

Our principal thanks go to all the CCTV Managers who contributed to developing the questions to be

asked in the survey and assisting in the format of this report.

Our thanks also go to the totally anonymous 1,015 persons, selected by RNS Research International as statistically representative of the Great Britain 16+ population, for their time and responses to the

questionnaire.

We also record our thanks to RNS Research International, for their professional advice and assistance to us in drawing up the survey questionnaire and the speed with which it was conducted.

We must particularly record our deepest thanks to the authorities and companies that provided financial sponsorship to enable us to facilitate this survey. The CCTV User Group as a membership

organisation (which has only once increased membership fees in the 14 years since it was formed) does not retain vast financial reserves, and without their support would have been unable to fund a survey of

this extent.

They have been particularly keen to ensure the survey is recognised as totally independent research, free from any commercial gain for them, and only Experienced CCTV Managers had input to the format

of the survey questionnaire.

With a big thank-you to these organisations for helping to fund the CCTV survey

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C C T V I m a g e | P u b l i c s u r v e y

Our survey The CCTV User Group commissioned an independent survey conducted by RNS Research International, with a nationally representative sample of 1015 respondents which illustrates the public support of the value of CCTV.

The charts graphically indicate the mas-sive support by the public for public area CCTV monitoring and its value to the com-munity and law enforcement. These results echo less sophisticated surveys we have previously undertaken, and are intended to assist both government and public bodies in the difficult decisions they may have to make, on the basis of facts about public atti-tudes to CCTV, rather than the ill-informed opinions of other organisations with their axes to grind and misrepresentation of inac-curate information in the media.

Public support for CCTV and its value in crime reduction and the identification and catching of criminals must not be underesti-mated. Public bodies which have attempted to cut or close systems have learnt to their cost that ‘the public’ will not agree, and ulti-mately will hold the politicians responsible.

These statistics demolish the many myths that have developed over time in the press and media:

More than 90 per cent of the public sup-port the use of public area CCTV by public bodies. They agree it provides valuable evidence of incidents that have arisen and assists the identification of offenders and witnesses after an incident, and helps to track their actions and movements. More than 80 per cent of respondents believe it saves the Police and courts time with increased guilty pleas.

Eighty per cent of the public do not believe public area CCTV infringes their privacy rights, with only 17 per cent consid-ering it does.

More than three-quarters of the public do not believe there are too many public area cameras (despite the totally false figure of 4.5m often quoted in the press) but nearly half (48 per cent) think there are the right amount and 28 per cent even think there should be more.

Nearly three-quarters of the public do believe the presence of CCTV reduces crime (73 per cent), its presence makes them feel safer (71 per cent) and critically that the Police and local authorities should not remove cameras to meet budget cuts (70 per cent).

And finally nearly two-thirds believe crime will increase if cameras are removed or monitoring reduced.

• Read the full survey analysis at the CCTV User Group website: www.cctvusergroup.com or contact the director, Peter Fry, at [email protected].

93% AGREED CCTV in public areas helps to provide valuable evidence of incidents which have occurred

91% AGREE the use of CCTV in public areas assists in the ‘post incident’ identifi cation of offenders and witnesses

90% AGREE that local authorities and police should use CCTV to openly monitor public space activity

Agree

Disagree

Don’t know

82% AGREE the images captured by CCTV yield more frequent guilty pleas and save police and court time

Agree

Disagree

Don’t know

73% AGREE the clearly visible presence of CCTV monitoring in public areas reduces crime

Agree

Disagree

Don’t know

71% AGREE the clearly visible presence of CCTV in public areas makes me feel safer

Agree

Disagree

Don’t know

63% AGREE crime and disorder in public areas in their community would increase if CCTV was removed or restricted

Agree

Disagree

Don’t know

70% DO NOT AGREE public authorities (council/po-lice) should remove public area CCTV to meet budget cuts

76% AGREE there are too few or the right amount of public area cameras currently operating

Yes, infringes on my

privacy

No, doesn’t infringe

privacy

Don’t know

80% AGREE clearly visible CCTV managed by local authorities and public bodies does not infringe their privacy

Agree

Disagree

Don’t know

Agree

Disagree

Don’t know

Agree

Disagree

Don’t know

A u t u m n 2 0 1 0

12Issue sponsor

Following on from our coverage of the annual CCTV User Group conference in the last issue – which was cut short due to space limitations – we decided to bring you a broader report in this issue of the magazine. For more information about conferences, visit www.cctvusergroup.com

CCTV Innovation C o n f e r e n c e r e p o r t | C C T V I m a g e

IN THE LAST issue of the magazine, we reported on the CCTV Action Pack which has been developed by User Group members as a handy reference source to fight back against budget cuts. If you missed that issue of the maga-zine, it is well worth going online to www.cctvimage.com and downloading the July 2010 issue. You’ll find the report on page 18.

The beautiful Cotswold Water Park was once again the venue for this conference, now an annual event, which was held on June 7th to 9th.

In a change to the programme, the conference was opened by the deputy chief constable of Cheshire, Graeme Gerrard. Graeme has been a police officer since 1975. He became assistant chief constable in 1998 and DCC in April 2005. His responsibilities at the Association of Chief Police Officers includes chairing the Burglary Reduction Working Group, being ACPO’s representative on the Home Office Distraction Burglary Task Force and he is a member of ACPO’s Acquisitive Crime Programme Board.

He is co-authored the National CCTV Strategy, pub-lished in October 2007. He is lead officer for CCTV in the Cheshire Constabulary and is often called upon to com-ment on CCTV issues at a national level.

Graeme’s presentation focussed on the challenge that CCTV presents for the police. He pointed out that rather than saving the police money, it was actually quite expensive to investigate incidents when there was CCTV involved.

“CCTV actually costs us a huge amount of money as well. Every time someone puts a camera up, and a crime may or may not have happened in the vicinity of that camera, we are duty bound to go and have a look at what is on that camera,” he said. “That isn’t always easy: you have to send someone out to recover the image, only to find it wasn’t looking in the right direction or it was switched off or the quality wasn’t very good.”

Graeme mentioned the mapping project that Cheshire has undertaken, which has been discussed in the pages of this magazine before. He said it was an ongoing project but one that was yielding benefits already. In addition to helping officers find evidence more quickly, Cheshire is also able to say with some confidence how many cameras are in their force area.

According to the latest count, there are: • 1350 private systems • 11,525 private business camera locations • About 9000 of these overlook public areas • There are 300 publicly owned cameras • 22 per cent of systems keep images for less than seven days • 9 per cent keep them for less than three days• 43 per cent of images would be unsuitable for identifying an indi-

vidualWith a population of one million, Cheshire’s camera count – if extrap-

olated nationwide – would imply there are less than one million CCTV cameras in the UK (not including cameras installed in private homes). Does that mean there are fewer cameras than generally believed or is Cheshire Constabulary undercounting its cameras?

With that many cameras to draw upon for potential evidence, Graeme said it’s important to find ways to extract value from them. Cheshire has already taken an important step by mapping the camera, but of course, knowing where the cameras are is only half the story: what do you do with it once it’s recorded?

“So there are specific policy rec-ommendations, and if you are ACPO lead on something, you are under a certain amount of pressure to ensure it’s done right in your patch,” Graeme said. “That’s not always the case but in Cheshire we certainly felt under pres-sure to get it right, so over the years we have been working on it so we can get an end-to-end CCTV process and create a good product from the footage that you supply us.”

To that end, he’s created specialist teams to collect CCTV evidence and process it. Cheshire uses specialist software to help with the recovery process which means that some images can be processed at the press of a button. Nonetheless, because of the myriad recording systems in use, some evidence still requires specialist IT skills to recover.

“Having got the images, what is your process for identifying the per-son?” Graeme continued. “Do you just leave it to the street cop to wander around aimlessly, holding up a picture saying, does anyone know who this is? Because actually that’s what happens in some places.”

In Cheshire, identification follows a set process, starting with a query of police records which is surprisingly effective. Graeme said it’s surpris-ing how easy it is to sift through thousands of mug shots by typing in identifying characteristics. This can narrow it down to less than 20 poten-tial matches which can then be checked by a member of staff.

If this is unsuccessful, the image is circulated to officers with local knowledge and, where there is still no match, to the general public through local media.

Graeme ended by saying that the biggest problem faced by the police, apart from the cost of investigating CCTV, was image quality. Most of the systems, he said, were installed for business purposes which didn’t include crime prevention and identification. It would be useful if there was a standard against which system owners could test their cameras and recorders to improve the quality.

Graeme Gerrard

A u t u m n 2 0 1 0

13Issue sponsor

C C T V I m a g e | C o n f e r e n c e r e p o r t

CCTV and missing persons Another conference speaker was Charlie Hedges who is from the National Policing Improvement Agency’s Missing Persons Bureau. He talked about the role of CCTV in tracing vulnerable people.

Charlie is a veteran of the police, having retired two years ago after a 30-year career. He has been involved in missing persons issues for twelve years and has helped write national policy documents about searching for missing persons.

He explained the work of the Missing Person Bureau and the guidance they issue to police working on these cases. The police response to a miss-ing person’s report takes several stages: initial enquiries, risk assessment, investigation and search. But at all times, the police have to be aware of legal limitations which, to a distressed relative, might appear to be hamper-ing a full scale investigation.

To help the police, the Bureau maintains a central database of all out-standing cases as well as unidentified persons, bodies and body parts. It helps police to cross match and identify people and it gathers and collates examples of best practice.

Child Rescue Alert is a key part of the Bureau’s work. It applies to all children under 18 where there is a reasonable belief the child has been kidnapped, or is in imminent danger.

After describing the work of the Bureau, he turned the challenge to the audience and asked, how can you help us? Are there good practices being implemented at local level? Do you believe there are improvements we can make at national level? Can you make a useful contribution to our work?

Changes at the ICOJudith Jones is the lead policy officer in the Public Security Group at the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). She mainly looks after data protection policy especially as it relates to personal privacy.

Wearing her CCTV and ANPR hat, she represents the ICO on the National CCTV Strategy Board and the ACPO CCTV working group.

While the ICO has new powers granted to it – including the power to levy fines for breaches of the Data Protection Act – the primary focus is on education, awareness and good practice, she said. They want to bolster public confidence in data protection by making it easier for organisations that obey the law and much tougher for the minority of organisations that don’t.

To help organisations in the CCTV sector, the ICO provides advice and guidance in the form of the CCTV Code of Practice, Privacy Impact Assessments, ICO audits, newsletters and campaigns. There is a wealth of information on the ICO website (www.ico.gov.uk).

Under new powers, the ICO can launch audits with or without the con-sent of an organisation. For those who don’t observe the law, the ICO can levy fines of up to £500,000 for serious breaches committed knowingly or recklessly.

Before the ICO can impose a fine, it has to be satisfied under section 55A of the Data Protection Act 1998 that there has been a serious contra-vention that was likely to cause substantial damage or distress. In addition, the contravention either has to have been deliberate or the data controller knew (or should have known) it was likely to happen.

Having said that, the ICO believes that CCTV is a useful tool and it looks forward to sensible and effective regulation being introduced.

Privacy and CCTV Chris Brogan of Security International presented his views on “The Private Security Industry and the Privacy Laws: Can They Co-exist?” Chris has been a corporate investigator for 30 years. His mid-life crisis, he says jovi-ally, led him to start jumping from airplanes at great heights [one hopes with a parachute! – ed.] and reading for a law degree.

No parachuting was on show at the conference, but Chris did thrill the audience with his unvarnished views about the challenges facing the security industry from privacy laws. Ranging from the Data Protection Act 1998, the Human Rights Act 1998, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers

Act 2000, the Consumer Credit Act 2006 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the security industry could be excused for panicking a bit.

Privacy International says privacy is composed of information privacy, bodily privacy and privacy of communications. To these three categories, Liberty would add the concept of spatial privacy, surely an area upon which the CCTV industry encroaches.

Because after all, what is security but an intrusion into a persons privacy? If the Data Protection Act is all about processing personal data, isn’t the secu-rity industry also all about processing personal data?

It’s not all doom and gloom, however. Chris says the solution involves edu-cation, training, good practice and the development of what he calls a privacy mindset. Most of all, he counsels, don’t panic. Reassuring words from a man who has worked both sides of the issue, both in the security industry and the law.

Should we, should we not? Remote access to CCTV footage is, according to Colin Greene and Tim Close, a thorny issue. Colin is a consult-ant and Tim works for Dallmeier.

Colin started with costs: there is an urgent need to reduce costs and increase efficiency to achieve more for less. One way this can be achieved is by giving stakeholders remote access to CCTV footage on public systems.

It could speed up crime investigation, reduce the time suspects are held and even allow the Crown Prosecution Service to have access to footage when deciding whether to charge suspects.

In a questionnaire which was passed out to delegates at the conference, Colin wrote: “I am working on a concept to reduce the amount of operator time spent on ‘event copying’. Prior to video evidence being catalogued and sealed, it is often copied, collected or sent for viewing elsewhere… the whole process is designed to eliminate unnecessary video copying or visits to a sometimes distant control room simply to view content.”

Those who are interested in getting involved in Colin’s research can contact him at [email protected].

Tim Close then talked about Dallmeier’s experience at Bristol City Council where they are helping stakeholders access CCTV remotely.

Using the Bristol Network (BNET), they are able to link Bristol’s con-trol room to suburbs and nearby towns. They have created recording hubs around Bristol which is more cost effective and resilient and also provides quick access to images locally.

Remote access to images is provided to the police, parking services, security services, facilities management and the city’s maintenance pro-vider.

Dallmeier worked with Synectics to produce an interface for video and alarm management in the control room. In the next stages of development, they will link in the council’s car parks, regional railways, more schools and who knows what else! • See next page for pictures from the Tuesday evening dinner.

Charlie Hedges

Judith Jones

Chris Brogan

A u t u m n 2 0 1 0

14Issue sponsor

Pictures of the dinner on Tuesday night – thanks to Colin Greene and his camera!

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17Issue sponsor

Driving a taxi can be dangerous. Drivers look out for each other and have radios to call for help, but some in-car backup would be nice. Fortunately, CCTV can provide just the help drivers need. We went to Gravesend in Kent, home of one of the few taxi CCTV schemes in the UK, to find out more

Driven to surveillanceR o o m s w i t h a V i e w | C C T V I m a g e

DRIVING A TAXI can be a dangerous business. Just how dangerous is illustrated by the case of 71-year-old Gian Chand Bajar, a taxi driver based in Gravesend, Kent, who was murdered in May 2007.

At the conclusion of a trial a year later, Luke Aujila – a local man in his early 20s - was found guilty of murdering Mr Bajar by running him over with his own vehicle. Aujila, who admitted his was drunk at the time, had been attempting to avoid paying his fare.

Sadly, violence against taxi drivers is all too common. Working alone, at night, and picking up strangers who may be worse for drink and drugs leaves the drivers extremely vulner-able to everything from verbal abuse and intimidation to robbery and assault.

Some drivers accept this as a hazard of the job while others take steps to protect themselves, including installing Perspex screens between the front and back seats and carrying personal attack alarms.

After the murder of Mr Bajar, there was a feel-ing that more had to be done to protect taxi drivers, so Gravesham Council in Kent, in cooperation with Kent Police, obtained a government grant to finance the installation of CCTV cameras in 150 licensed taxis in Gravesend.

With the funding, vehicle owners paid £97 for £720 worth of kit. On the basis that the kit was now affordable, the Council made installation of CCTV inside taxis a condition of the licence.

Glad to have it Gordon Bailey is one taxi driver who appreciates the value of CCTV. In July 2009 he picked up a passenger from a pub at around 10.45pm. As he arrived at the destination, the passenger jumped into the passenger seat and demanded the keys to the car before punch-ing Mr Bailey in the face.

The passenger – 23-year-old Mark Heanan – pushed Mr Bailey, 64, out of the car and began kicking and punching him in the head. Then Heanan took the night’s takings and fled.

Mr Bailey suffered fractures to his cheek bones and forehead and doctor’s said that one more kick to the head could have killed him.

Despite the severity of the attack, Mr Bailey has returned to work. He praises the CCTV system which recorded the entire incident and provided vital evidence in the court case that resulted in Heanan receiving an indeterminate jail sentence with a minimum time to serve of 3 years and seven months.

“At the time it was installed, I didn’t want it, but now I’m glad to have it,” Mr Bailey told me in an interview in his taxi. “Without CCTV they would never have got him because it was dark when I picked him up.”

Fortunately for Mr Bailey, the camera in his vehicle was fitted with infrared LEDs, enabling the police to get a clear image of his attacker.

Mr Bailey, who has been a taxi driver for 26 years, is no stranger to violence and intimidation. Despite the presence of the camera he was still badly beaten, but as he explained: “CCTV doesn’t stop it

happening but you get a conviction.”

Another ben-efit of the CCTV images in his taxi was the fact that Heanan, having been shown the images of his crime, pleaded guilty, saving Mr Bailey the added burden of a trial.

And as Mr Bailey pointed out, in three serious attacks on taxi drivers since the camera programme began, the perpetrators were caught and pleaded guilty. As an added bonus, drivers have noticed a marked improvement in passengers’ behaviour.

Given successes like these, you might ask why other councils don’t copy Gravesend.

In-car CCTV growth In-vehicle surveillance is a growth area, according to Niall Jenkins, senior research analyst at IMS Research. According to a recent IMS report, in-vehicle CCTV was enjoying double-digit growth before the recession started to bite.

“Vehicle owners who install CCTV tend to be guarding against false legal claims,” Mr Jenkins said. So far, he noted, insurance companies have not been offering significant discounts for install-ing CCTV, but this may change as they begin to see the evidence of its effectiveness.

In the taxi market specifically, installations tend to be driven by legislation, with driver-owners reluctant to spend anything unless it is absolutely required. He noted that Australia was one of the few coun-tries where IMS had found the government was pushing taxi drivers to install CCTV through regulation and financial assistance.

Clearly when it comes to safeguarding taxi drivers, the UK lags behind Australia. As it emerged in my visit to Gravesend, this is one of only two councils in the country that are known to be requiring CCTV to be installed in taxis.

Pict

ures

: Tom

Ree

ve

Cont’d next page

A u t u m n 2 0 1 0

18Issue sponsor

C C T V I m a g e | R o o m s w i t h a V i e w

Road blocks to taxi CCTV One can’t help but recognise that a major blocker to in-cab CCTV is the cost. The kit that Gravesend installed three years ago cost £720 including installation, according to Simon Lowndes, manag-ing director of Video Vest, one of the two companies contracted by Gravesend to install the kit.

Video Vest installed a package of equipment comprising a mini-dome camera, hard disk recorder and a miniature dashboard-mounted video monitor. Because the system is wired into the vehicle’s fuse board (so the system will start up automatically when the ignition is switched on) and there are wires to be run under the dashboard and back to the boot, it has to be installed by a qualified vehicle electrician which adds to the cost.

Gravesend was fortunate to receive a government grant and matching funding from the police and the council. In all it received £118,000 which helped over 150 taxi drivers get the kit.

On top of the cost is the resistance from taxi drivers to new tech-nology. Many of the drivers I spoke to admitted that if it hadn’t been a requirement of licensing, they would not have installed the kit even at the subsidised price. However, having benefited from its presence for the past couple of years they were equally adamant that they wouldn’t do without it now.

Camera defence Apart from being assaulted, one of the worst things that can hap-pen to a driver is to be accused by a female passenger of sexual assault.

As senior licensing officer Christine Hills explains, Gravesham Borough Council has to suspend a driver’s license as soon as an alle-gation is made. “In the year leading up to the installation of these cameras, Tim Worthington [public carriage officer for Gravesham BC] had to suspend four drivers, all of whom had allegations of

sexual impropriety made against them,” she said. “Eventually it was found that there was no foundation to the claims but meanwhile you had four drivers who had had to go home to their wives and say, sorry, we can’t pay the mortgage this month because I’ve got this allegation against me.”

The security of the tapes is of paramount importance to the cred-ibility of the system. As Mr Lowndes explains, this is why the DVRs are locked in a box in the boot of the car. The only access to the system is with a remote control which is in the possession of Mr Worthington and the Kent Police taxi liaison officer, Chris Fuller.

Although the recording is safeguarded, one controversial element of the system is the recording override switch, says Mr Lowndes, explaining that the switch is there so drivers can, at their discretion, turn the camera off.

If there’s any doubt that this could be abused, Sgt Graham James, crime reduction officer for Kent Police says that there has never been a case which the police have investigated in which the relevant recording wasn’t available. And if it turned out that the system had been switched off, the onus would be on the driver to explain why it hadn’t been working.

Sharing the knowledge Gravesham BC is keen to share its experiences with other councils who are considering going down the same route. They have hosted several delegations from other councils including West Mercia to explain what they did in Gravesend and what they would do differ-ently next time.

Ms Hills and the rest of the team encourage councils to take an active role in promoting CCTV in taxis, even if they don’t have the means to fund it, if for no other reason than to encourage drivers to install good kit that is easy for the police to access.

“What is happening in Dartford is that drivers are going out and getting their own kit, which is laudable,” says Sgt James, “but it causes problems for us because of the various ways their systems can be set up. By the council not implementing a comprehensive system, it causes us more problems and I imagine that is the case up and down the country.”

Gravesham Borough Council has taken a big step in safeguarding the taxi drivers in their area, which appears to be much appreciated by drivers and the public alike. It remains to be seen if other coun-cils will follow their lead.

• If you want to learn more about taxi CCTV, please contact PC Chris Fuller, Private Hire & Taxi Liaison Officer at Kent Police on 01474-366349 or [email protected]

PC Chris Fuller and Simon Lowndes

The man who attacked Gordon Bailey is in prison thanks in part to evidence from a CCTV camera

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Cyfas provided the CCTV control room with a professional radio control system as used by the police. This comprised of voice over IP radio dispatch system called C-Soft which uses state of the art digital and “touch screen” technology. From this any radio scheme can be monitored and used. North West radio supplied and programmed hundreds of shop and pub “walky-talky” radios and added an alert button to identify the radio in an emergency. When an emergency button is pressed on a walky-talky, an audible warning is given instantly to attract the C-Soft operator. The C-Soft system includes the ability to identify each “walky-talky” and to display the radio name and shop when they call in. Key Achievements All shop and pub radio schemes are now centrally monitored and so can be better coordinated. The C-Soft dispatcher provides professional levels of control and call logging with one desk top screen. Alarms from radios are instantly identified, time stamped and logged and can therefore be compared with CCTV logs. Walky-talky identity is linked to a database to show nearest camera, so CCTV response is made quicker and so more efficient. The use of Voice over IP (Voip) has given the additional benefit that low cost broadband lines can be used to connect sites saving thousands of pounds in line rental. The choice of the C-Soft system means that unlimited numbers of extra dispatchers and radio systems can easily be added as and when required.

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Crime Reduction Partnership uses C-Soft advanced IP based radio system for CCTV Control

Cyfas maintain a continuous development program and the above description does not constitute a product specification or invitation to purchase. Details subject to design change without notification.

Being able to see what is going on is enhanced by being able to hear what is going on, and the ability to quickly locate the nearest CCTV camera to a radio call means response is both rapid and more effective. This approach was taken by Business Crime Direct a multi stakeholder initiative working with Liverpool’s Chamber of Commerce. Situation A number of different radio schemes are used to counter public disorder, crime and theft in the city of Liverpool. In these schemes shop and bar staff are supplied with “walky-talky” radios so that hey can inform each other about suspects and trouble makers in their local area. Many of the shops and pubs are within sight of a CCTV camera monitored by a CCTV control room. Some of the CCTV control rooms are equipped with radios and can listen in on the local shops and pubs. However, overall these systems are uncoordinated and there is no radio control room. Goals

To better co-ordinate the systems to give better crime reduction To establish better control of radio communications To instantly notify CCTV staff of an incident To be able to identify the nearest camera To be able to develop the system further at low risk and cost

What Was Provided The chambers local radio contractor designed and supplied a centralised radio station with radios dedicated for monitoring each shop and pub radio system. The system was designed to give better communications directly into the existing schemes from a single location. Key to this centralisation was the choice of C-Soft, an IP connected radio control system supplied by Cyfas Systems.

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Crime Reduction Partnership uses C-Soft advanced IP based radio system for CCTV Control

Cyfas maintain a continuous development program and the above description does not constitute a product specification or invitation to purchase. Details subject to design change without notification.

Being able to see what is going on is enhanced by being able to hear what is going on, and the ability to quickly locate the nearest CCTV camera to a radio call means response is both rapid and more effective. This approach was taken by Business Crime Direct a multi stakeholder initiative working with Liverpool’s Chamber of Commerce. Situation A number of different radio schemes are used to counter public disorder, crime and theft in the city of Liverpool. In these schemes shop and bar staff are supplied with “walky-talky” radios so that hey can inform each other about suspects and trouble makers in their local area. Many of the shops and pubs are within sight of a CCTV camera monitored by a CCTV control room. Some of the CCTV control rooms are equipped with radios and can listen in on the local shops and pubs. However, overall these systems are uncoordinated and there is no radio control room. Goals

To better co-ordinate the systems to give better crime reduction To establish better control of radio communications To instantly notify CCTV staff of an incident To be able to identify the nearest camera To be able to develop the system further at low risk and cost

What Was Provided The chambers local radio contractor designed and supplied a centralised radio station with radios dedicated for monitoring each shop and pub radio system. The system was designed to give better communications directly into the existing schemes from a single location. Key to this centralisation was the choice of C-Soft, an IP connected radio control system supplied by Cyfas Systems.

See No Evil Hear No Evil ? — Not in the City of Liverpool

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21Issue sponsor

Visimetrics (UK) Ltd is finalising a £1 million project to significantly reduce the search time of large periods of CCTV recordings for key points of evidence. The R&D project team includes the DTI’s Technology Strategy Board, Loughborough University, PERA, CCTV User Group and Visimetrics

CCTV gets FINDC C T V I m a g e | C C T V i n n o v a t i o n s

FOLLOWING THE London bombings in July 2005, the Metropolitan Police Service reviewed over 100,000 hours of CCTV footage as part of their incident investigation. This process consumed a huge amount of operational man hours and significantly increased the amount of time required to progress the investigation. The issues faced by the police in this instance inspired a technical solution to significantly reduce the time, man power resources,(and costs) needed to review large amounts of CCTV recordings while searching for key points of evidence.

FIND - Forensic Investigation Network Database – has been devel-oped with the capability of linking to any CCTV recording system to create and index key objects of interest at the time of video capture and storage. The technology works by allowing operators to search via a powerful ‘FIND’ processing engine that immediately identifies relevant footage. By inputting key parameters, the system will search the database of classified objects and display relevant images using thumbnail identification, ready for review. The speed of response is derived from searching the object data index, rather than the tradi-tional video based “region of interest” search, using selected areas of a specific camera.

FIND emerged from initial research undertaken by Loughborough University evaluating the most technically challenging aspects of using automated video analysis to search large volumes of existing

CCTV recordings for key or ‘known’ objects of interest.

Professor Eran Edirisinghe is project lead-er at Loughborough University and he sums up the projects initial obstacles. “Performing complex video analysis on recordings from public space cameras in particular proved very challenging. We had to overcome many limitations affecting image quality. These include camera position, height, skew and shake as well as common issues such as lighting, colour consistency and video inter-lacing. Resolving these issues is essential in order to perform accurate evaluation to reach a stage where we could actually begin to analyse the video”.

Two areas in particular quickly became evident as barriers to progress: colour consistency and lighting/shadowing. Professor Edirisinghe and his team developed algorithms to overcome these barriers and this dramatically improved the video consistency and the accuracy of results.

Generating colour and lighting consistency formed the foundation for the research and development of a comprehensive set of algo-

Inputting key parameters causes the system to search its database of categorised CCTV objects

Cont’d next page

Craig Howie

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22Issue sponsor

rithms specifically aimed at resolving vehicle classification, people classification, license plate identification using CCTV cameras, text/logo detection, baggage detection, complex background processing and PTZ compensation.

A number of elements within the development of these algorithms are described by Professor Edirisinghe as unique. These include:• Ability to detect and recognise vehicle licence plates (full and partial matching) from CCTV footage captured using non-dedicated cameras• Automatic colour consistency to remove the effect of scene illumination changes (type of light sources, time of day) as effectively as possible, main-taining the ‘colour’ specification consistently• A baggage detection approach to detect pulled luggage, backpacks and briefcases• A hierarchical, hybrid, top-down and bottom-up object description approach that optimises the search periods for complex filters. Such filters include object character recognition of license plates using CCTV cameras or logo filters specifically on moving vehicles.• Dynamic background generation and object tracking to detect moving objects and separate them while camera pan, tilt, zoom is in operation• Video annotation up to x5 real time with hardware implementation.

It’s all in the metadata FIND functions by the creation of a database of key objects of informa-tion extracted from the video as it is being recorded. This information is normally referred to as metadata and provides the source of results for all future searches. The stored metadata is negligible in size when compared to standard resolution and frame rate video. Thus storing all key objects of interest from an entire system in this way becomes irrelevant in overall storage terms, when compared to the video storage requirement.

The metadata is created in real time by processing the recorded video using the unique algorithms. This process captures all relevant objects within each video scene to give operators a wide range of search criteria for any future investigation.

As an example of the scope of search the criteria can be set to “person wearing red shirt”. Further refinement can be added to achieve “person wearing red shirt, carrying a back pack at a specific time of day.” Searching in this way then occurs across the entire source of metadata from all cameras. This produces the most comprehensive set of results from entire recording systems using a single step process.

FIND classifies objects as part of its identification process. Object classification is based upon a hierarchical approach beginning with the determination of either vehicle or person(s). Once a person(s) or vehicle has been classified, further feature determination is performed, right down to very basic attributes such as shape, colour, location relative to the frame, time, characters etc.

Basic features are then used to find derived attributes such as the presence of a suitcase, backpack etc. when classified as human objects. In vehicle classification derived attributes take the form of number plates, logos, sig-nage etc. The derived attributes are stored alongside the basic attributes for use in all future searching.

Applying any level of search criteria produces a column of results in descending order with the most accurate first, dropping down to least accu-rate at the bottom. FIND uses a relevancy metric that specifies whether an image is an appropriate match to the operator’s search criteria. Anything falling below a user based threshold, is not displayed to the operator. The ‘relevancy’ is primarily determined by object classification and colour simi-larity and scored according to accuracy.

The threshold value depends on the ‘confidence-level’ set within the user’s search criteria; if the operator is not confident on the accuracy of the off-line intelligence, for example, then a wider response “confidence-level” can be applied. The algorithm processes and outputs data on all objects within the overall camera view of every camera in real-time. The search then processes the identified objects and provides the results. Further exten-sion of the search criteria can also be achieved using wild card searches,

particularly relevant to partially identified license plates or text logos.

According to Craig Howie, Commercial Director of Visimetrics, “FIND will reduce the search period of days, weeks or months worth of digitally recorded video down to a matter of seconds. The range of search criteria, evidential algorithms and pre-indexed video gives users the means to view the matching images as they work. The speed and accuracy of results makes the running and re-running of searches practical as more off-line information relating to an incident becomes avail-able.”

Howie continues “There is no need to select individual cameras, ’regions of interest ‘or wait for short sections of video to be indexed on-demand before viewing. FIND searches the pre-indexed video across the entire recording system to quickly identify images matching the operators search criteria.”

Object searching using FIND is wide and varied, covering virtually all reference points essential in narrowing the identification process using recorded CCTV images. The key component of FIND’s success is the abil-ity to deal with scene lighting including colour constancy compensation and the removal of shadows.

In case of searching for a particular person - or persons - it is possible to search on criteria such as;1. People wearing a particular colour or combination of colours of clothing 2. People carrying/pulling luggage such as back packs or suitcases3. Identify individuals running among walkers 4. Identify people wearing clothing containing logos 5. Search for specific characters on clothing i.e. N, M, P or Q

Opening up the search for vehicles FIND enables the following opera-tions;1. Search for a particular vehicle type such as car, bus, van, lorry2. Search for a particular colour of vehicle type – i.e. a white van 3. Search for a given speed in combination with car type and colour4. Search for a vehicle with a known number plate5. Identifying from the sub-set of a number plate such as characters or digits

only6. Search for vehicles with visible text on the body

FIND will soon be available as an extension to existing recording systems. The development process for FIND has always been structured for true portability of the algorithms and metadata creation for use within embedded products such as IP cameras, video encoders or DVR/NVRs.

The final stage of the project will include a software interface providing the means to integrate the search tool with legacy or third party applications and systems.

• For further information on FIND, its scope or availability contact Craig Howie directly on 01292 677 788 or email - [email protected].

C C T V i n n o v a t i o n s | C C T V I m a g e

The user-friendly GUI

and query builder

See More at www.nec-displays.co.uk

or call now +44 (0) 870 120 1160

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24Issue sponsor

All’s quiet on the regulatory front. Despite promises from the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary, the National CCTV Strategy and the regulation of CCTV sits becalmed and the National CCTV Strategy Board is as silent as the interim CCTV regulator. What’s going on, asks Tom Reeve

What’s happened to the Strategy? O p i n i o n | C C T V I m a g e

SINCE THE PUBLICATION of the National Strategy in October 2007, when it was well received and welcomed by the CCTV community, we have seen some progress in implementing the 44 recom-mendations.

Seventeen recommenda-tions were implemented by the end of last year, although as the chairman of the National CCTV Strategy Board Graeme Gerrard commented, the 17 recommendations were organ-ic by nature, and the board will continue to review all of the recommendations.

The most important recom-mendations to be implemented

established the National CCTV Oversight Body and appointed the interim CCTV Regulator. Since then, there has been silence: from the Government, the Home Office, the board and the Interim Regulator. That silence has not just been on the 17 recommendations or the remaining 27, but on the Strategy and the entire subject of regulation of CCTV.

Radio silence The Coalition Agreement included the key phrase to “further regulate CCTV” in its announcement, but since then… nothing.

The CCTV website is not available and enquiries to the Programme team and the National Strategy Board bring the response that “we are awaiting Ministerial direction on what they mean by ‘further regulation’”.

Asking questions in Parliament has also produced nothing of any help. On 28 June this year, MPS Margot James and Ian Lucas asked what plans the government had for regulation of CCTV. James Brokenshire MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Home Office, replied: “We have stated that we will further regulate CCTV. We will introduce detailed proposals in due course.”

He added: “The use of CCTV has increased in the absence of a spe-cific regulatory framework. For reasons of proportionality and retain-ing public confidence, it is important that there is appropriate regu-lation, and it is interesting to note that the previous Administration recognised that when they appointed the interim CCTV regulator.”

On 9 June, the Prime Minister, replying to a question from Labour’s Harriet Harman MP, said: “On surveillance, let me be clear that I support CCTV cameras. I have them in my constituency and they are very effective, and when I worked at the Home Office many years ago I championed such schemes, but I think everyone understands that the level of surveillance has become very great in our country… We will be bringing forward legislation to deal with that.”

On 8 September, Home Secretary Theresa May said: “On CCTV, we have said that we want better regulation of it and automatic number plate recognition - ANPR - and it is right and proper for us to introduce that. If the Labour party thought that there was nothing to be done about CCTV, why did it start looking at introducing some-

body to examine the regulation of CCTV? The regulation of CCTV is important…”

Freedom BillAll well and good, but Parliament has now returned and according to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, the Freedom Bill will be pub-lished in November. This is likely to be the Bill that will introduce any proposed regulation.

Meanwhile, the National Strategy Board has not met since the election, the Regulator’s interim appointment comes to an end in December, and still no suggestion about what “further regulation” might mean.

There is, perhaps naively, a belief that the engagement will take place before proposals are laid before Parliament. But we still do not know who the consultation will be with.

Will it include the public, the CCTV community and key stake-holders in the industry? Remember, this is a Government that is pro-moting the “Big Society” and the forward to the Coalition Agreement said that it wanted to “…shun bureaucratic levers of the past and find intelligent ways to encourage, support and enable people to make bet-ter choices for themselves”.

In a speech on reform by the Deputy Prime Minister in May 2010, Nick Clegg said that the Government would lead a “power revolu-tion”, a “fundamental resettlement of the relationship between state and citizen that puts you in charge”. And he added: “The Government will end the culture of spying on its citizens” and “CCTV will be properly regulated”.

So put simply, CCTV is to be regulated, we the public and the industry can expect to be involved - but when?

In the meantime, CCTV continues be part of the sacrificial lamb for local authorities who are coming under intense pressure to reduce their costs: no thought appears to be being given to the impact on crime or community safety either by the government or local authorities.

We cannot continue to sit becalmed as the pressure comes on CCTV managers and operators across the country.

The previous Government’s desire to raise standards across the CCTV industry - for which it was constantly hounded by the Minister now responsible for this when he was the Opposition spokesman on policing - now appears to have been forgotten by this Minister, the Home Office and the Local Authorities.

If we do not see clear action or direction, and soon, the gains that have been made since the publication of the National Strategy will be lost.

Without either the strategy or regulation, the pressure on the police to respond to crimes with the assurance that CCTV evidence is availa-ble - only to find that it is not recorded, cannot be downloaded, or that the quality and lighting is so bad that it is not usable - will grow. In the meantime hours of valuable police time will have been wasted.

We need to push the government to either re-engage with the National Strategy, or make clear what regulation it is likely to impose, and as importantly how it expects local authorities to deliver their community safety responsibilities and support the police, with ever decreasing funding.

• Tom Reeve is editor of CCTV Image and managing director of Security Media Publishing. [email protected]

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26Issue sponsor

Perhaps second only in importance to your cameras, the display solution you choose for your control room has an impact on staff performance, running costs and – let’s admit it, it is important – aesthetics. We talk to some manufacturers about their solutions

Chance to shine D i s p l a y s o l u t i o n s | C C T V I m a g e

THE OPPORTUNITY to add significant value to a control room’s functionality, extract more potential from the operators manning it, and simultaneously improve important operational factors such as energy efficiency and environmental credentials, is a tempting prospect. But in these economically constrained times, can invest-ment in control room display technology to achieve these results really be justified?

For some public sector control rooms there may not be a long-term choice, for the lifespan of traditional cathode ray tube (CRT) displays and monitor walls is finite.

What’s more, their comparative efficiency and effectiveness is increasingly questionable in the context of significant technical advances in display technologies. These now deliver noticeably improved resolution images using, for instance, space-saving flat-screens and cube displays to handle evolving types of information. Older CRT displays no longer allow operators to adequately display increasing amounts of computer data overlays onto video – an effect that can be likened to an ‘electronic piece of paper’.

Modern display systems can show maps of the surveillance cover-age area with camera positions marked, which can then be combined with other data such as GPS vehicle tracking. All of this information can be interactively meshed with live and recorded picture feeds from CCTV and IP cameras. Compare that to CRT monitors that don’t even allow you to alter the format of the text labels and you can see why you might want to upgrade.

Custom choicesModern display screens can be custom made to fit each control room environment, with the processors behind the digital display able to handle any number and size of images. They are said to reduce operator fatigue as they’re easier to work with, while control room managers wishing to con-tinue using existing video matrices can easily replicate their monitor wall.

IT IS LIKELY that with a change of Government coupled to a massive public deficit that pressure is going to come on finances for public projects, and because of the politics involved in CCTV it is likely to be one that much of the focus will apply.

But what does this mean to CCTV control rooms? With the reduction in available cash, control rooms will have to do more than just monitor CCTV to justify the expense in operation. Even without new capital expenditure the operating costs will have to be reduced and managed. One way of doing that would be to increase the range of services that a control room can provide and make use of standardised equipment rather than proprietary solutions.

Obviously the more flexible a control room can be the more revenue it can generate. Additionally since June of 2010 all government agencies have a direct instruction to work together to bring effective costs savings across departments and to avoid duplication. This will potentially mean a relaxation in various policies that have previously denied by cost, for example, the monitoring of alarms by CCTV control rooms.

For example, if you monitor an alarm and verify it visually you do not have to go to the expense of setting up a control room that fully complies with the requirements for a control room that only monitors alarms without any verification by CCTV.

By using existing CCTV systems (DVR, NVR and IP cameras) and linking them to alarm activations you can immediately upgrade secu-rity and monitor the system in any control room. In the Initsys system this is done by the Merlin3 network – no hardware change is normally required.

Initsys’s Merlin3 and its associated net-work VerifiedAlarms is Europes’ market leader for integration of alarm signals and CCTV. The highest growth security compa-nies across Europe all have one thing in com-mon: they use Merlin3. In order to sustain their growth they have to provide a range of

services to their customers – they have the ability to say yes more often than their competitors.

By simply linking existing CCTV systems to alarm signals it is pos-sible to maximise profits from existing customers, without the cost of installing a specialised CCTV camera transmission systems.

Merlin3 encompasses alarm management correctly integrated with CCTV systems and access control, in-built video wall management and a range of supplementary services such as key and key holder manage-ment, energy data collection/processing, guard tour management and lone worker/track and trace.

Merlin3 is compatible with most of the major digital video record-ers, NVR and IP cameras and is capable of recording images to its own database for digital locker purposes or to enable a mix between analogue and IP systems. Merlin3 is also capable of recording from HDCCTV and broadcast TV.

Merlin is also a fully featured package for the control room opera-tor: no matter what type of CCTV system or alarm is connected, it all appears the same to the operator. The operator can also make and receive incoming telephone calls, send audio warnings and listen to protected premises.

In short, Initsys can enable any control room to say “yes” more often.

SAY YES MORE OFTEN Looking for more customers? Start with a Merlin3 control system

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27Issue sponsor

C C T V I m a g e | D i s p l a y s o l u t i o n s

Chris Berry, MD of telemetry and telematics specialist Initsys, points out that the UK is still ahead of the pack in terms of CCTV and that modern control rooms are “increasingly utilising video analytics – throwing video for operators to view as event-driven alarms occur, instead of passively displaying real-time images”.

Initsys’ recently launched Merlin 3 command and control software incorporates alarm monitoring linked to access control, CCTV, intruder, fire and building management systems, associating cameras to these systems’ alarms to assist the work of control room operators. Unveiling Merlin 3 at this year’s IFSEC exhibition, the company demonstrated the system using a video wall comprising four 52-inch Mitsubishi Electric HD LCD screens with an overlapping display and showing a combination of data including 3D maps.

Future proof Berry believes that the broadcast sector will be an important proving ground for display technologies finding their way into surveillance con-trol rooms over the next five years. He cites innovations such as HDcctv (CCTV Image, July 2010) and organic light emitting diode (OLED) dis-plays as likely to prove particularly influential over this timeframe, with the latter offering advantages including a thinner and lighter alternative to liquid crystal displays derived from OLED’s ability to function without a backlight. “I don’t see megapixel IP being necessarily so important in the future, because I believe it will be gradually superseded by HDcctv. I was amazed by the comparative quality when I first saw it,” he comments.

Berry also mentions Dataton’s Watchout multi display software as a technology set to take off in the near future, coming again out of the broad-cast sector. Watchout creates wide-screen images as large as required, according to its supplier, integrating still images, video, live footage, ani-mations, sound and graphics, The software combines multiple projectors or other display devices with standard computer and network technology, utilising the full resolution of projectors, monitors, video wall cubes or LED displays.

Chris Berry says it also offers a solution to the difficulties that can be encountered using digital light processing (DLP) when joining images to form a single display. “Watchout removes the seaming effect that can otherwise result and gives DLP technology a new lease of life. In fact a Watchout-based video wall system could provide a feasible and com-paratively cost-effective alternative to rear-projection displays, which have fallen in popularity recently because of the struggle they generally have in providing sufficient definition for HD or megapixel images.”

Concurring with that sentiment, Jonathan Cooper, business development consultant for NEC Display Solutions, notes that by comparison LCD

technology can offer high display quality combined with lower capital and operating costs, the latter derived from savings in consumables and ongo-ing service and maintenance charges. “LCD panels don’t take up as much ‘footprint’ either and power consumption compared to old technology such as CRT is considerably reduced. The move to LCD screens is also being boosted by the reduction in bezel widths,” he declares.

NEC’s new Multisync X462UN 46-inch LCD video wall panel, for instance, has a 7.3mm content-to-content gap along with a specification including ambient light sensor, heat management, and tools to calibrate the image across the screen. The product is designed to provide flexibility and high performance whilst minimising power consumption and monitoring carbon footprint savings, according to the company.

Cooper adds that other display technology trends of note include LED-backlit LCD screens (for both desktop monitors and video walls), which offer lighter weight units, further reductions in power consumption, shal-lower depths and uniformity improvements compared to CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent lamp) backlighting. An additional advantage is the ecologically attractive removal of mercury and halogen associated with CCFL. These benefits are included in NEC’s newest desktop product, the Multisync EX-series 23-inch monitor. This product includes the latest generic Displayport digital display interface standard.

Meanwhile, support for the advantages of LED light sources can also be heard from Mitsubishi Electric. The company’s Seventy Series display wall cubes offer the option of either conventional mercury lamps or LED lighting, with the solid-state LED route said to provide advantages such as dispensing with the consumable items of lamps and a rotating colour wheel, together with richer colours, a more uniform screen brightness and more stable colour performance.

A look at the specification tables reveals that a lamp system’s average lifetime is 10,000 hours in ‘normal’ mode (reducing to 6000 hours in ‘bright’ mode), compared with some 80,000/60,000 hours when using an LED light source. So is a decision to opt for LED a ‘no-brainer’? Jason Cox, business manager in Mitsubishi’s Display Engineering division, explains the comparisons involved in this choice: “There is currently a premium of around 10 per cent to be paid for using LED over conventional lamps, although this cost would be recouped over its 60,000-80,000 hours lifetime. LED is a newer technology for this type of application, but as happens with other technologies that come onto the market and achieve take-up this price gap will narrow as the demand for LED grows. The tech-nology’s energy efficiency and environmental credentials will reinforce its attractions too.”

Cox adds that Mitsubishi’s Seventy Series is based around modular con-struction benefits, in terms of its physical installation. In practical terms,

NEC Display Solutions (pictured opposite) continues to reaffirm its Number One Brand (MEKO Q1’10) status for commercial public displays through innovative technology development, resulting in new product launches to deliver the highest quality display technol-ogy to market.

Launched in September, the MultiSync® X462UN 46-inch LCD public display represents the new generation of ultra-narrow bezel display superseding the successful X461UN, the first display of its kind to be shipped.

The new MultiSync® X462UN boasts “Dark Edge Compensation”, known as “EdgeComp”, an innovative function developed by NEC Display Solutions to ensure an even distribution of light across the panel. The new version also offers additional and improved network features, as well as a future-proof DisplayPort connection which allows higher bandwidths and longer cables.

Video wall solutions are proving to become the technology of choice in the command and control room sector offering advantages such as lower initial investment cost, lower operating costs, and shal-

lower depth requirement. NEC’s video wall solution comprising the new X462UN offers a number of flexible add-ons such as calibration kits, DVI Daisy chain boards and over-frame kits alongside high end features such as heat management tools, scheduling capabilities and carbon footprint metering built in as standard.

Whether it is for an Oil and Gas, Blue Light, CCTV, Data Centres or Telecommunication application, the mission critical nature of con-trol rooms ( often operational 24/7/365) specifies the need to employ the highest quality display delivering the highest assurance of longev-ity. With an unparalleled reputation as a brand that you can trust for quality and reliability, NEC demonstrates enviably low failure rates, backed by a robust warranty and support process.

The flexibility of the X462UN video wall solution allows for swift and simple swap outs should maintenance support be required. NEC is renowned for products designed to stand the test of time. The X462UN uses advanced technologies including heat management, automatic brightness control and eco mode to help prolong the dis-play’s life and to reduce the Total Cost of Ownership.

PERFORMANCE ART NEC launches MultiSync 46-inch LCD, with ultra narrow bezel

Cont’d next page

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that means the display could, for instance, be upgraded from XGA to HD resolution via specific ‘change-outs’ of individual elements of the display system – retaining elements such as cabling and processing modules – without the need for wholesale equipment replacement.

Front access From a maintenance perspective, display units such as wall cubes have traditionally been accessible from the rear of the units. Yet LCD has brought in the option of front access – an alternative that provides more flexibility for control rooms where space is at a premium. As Chris Berry of Initsys points out, health and safety considerations and fire regulations ask for a minimum 1100mm walkway behind a monitor/video wall, so front access appears to offer an operational advantage. But Mitsubishi’s Jason Cox notes that an inevitable consequence of front access is that the bezel, or mullion, will be wider as a result.

In the meantime, returning to the theme of equipment lifetime costs, 15-year-old German display systems manufacturer Eyevis provides a range of display solutions including DLP cubes and LCD screens, alongside graphic controllers (with IP decoding) and wall management software.

Spokesman Max Winck says a dual-lamp backlit cube display will

provide reassuring backup to the 10,000 hours MTBF rate of a single lamp. But the alternative of LED illumination will increase that lifespan to 50,000 hours. Hence the company’s introduction of cube displays ranging in size from 50-70-inch units, providing resolutions from XGA (1024 x 768), full-HD (1920 x 1080) up to WUXGA (1920 x 1200). A cognitive based method of light source adjustment is claimed to ensure a uniform colour appearance over the lifetime of the LEDs.

As Winck points out, a modular matrix of screens made up of LCD monitors or DLP cubes is generally controlled by a so-called split cont-roller which provides special graphic boards for incoming and outgoing signal sources. Using these graphics controller units, all connected signals and sources can be displayed on the large screen wall.

Eyevis’ recently launched EC cube displays using one-panel DLP tech-nology with RGB LED illumination, said to ensure unseparated image rep-resentation on-screen. A heat-pipe cooling system is reported to maintain the system within recommended operating temperatures, even in warmer environmental conditions. The company additionally provides a colour management system, designed to precisely determine the white point of the LED light source and adjust the colour values of all primary colour chan-nels accordingly, with the aim of providing a homogenous representation of colour and brightness across the whole display.

D i s p l a y s o l u t i o n s | C C T V I m a g e

eyevis displays for any budgeteyevis is a leading manufacturer of large screen display systems and video walls, with applications ranging from control rooms and traffic centers to advertising displays and virtual reality. “We use the lat-

est technology and quality components, and our prod-uct range is broad enough to entertain any budget for any project,” the company says.

Thanks to many years of experience and techno-logical advantages, eyevis is the ideal partner for the realisation of complete and

customised solutions. “We create every component necessary for the overall system,” the company says. “This means that in addition to the display method itself – whether it is rear-projection cubes, LCDs, frontal-projection units, or Laser Phosphor Displays – we also develop the graphics controllers and user-friendly wall management software that allows you to control your display.”

Of course, the technical support team is always ready to assist its clients with any questions they have. “This allows us to fulfill the high requirements of our customers and help them realize the perfect visual solution, every time.”

Some of eyevis’s latest products include the Netpix4800 graphic controller and the 55-inch LED-backlit display with Super Narrow bezel. “The Netpix4800 controller allows for multiple connections from analog video, digital video, and graphic sources, and by utilizing Switch Fabric architecture, all sources can be displayed simultane-ously on your display wall in full frame rates,” they say.

Meanwhile, the LED display combines the slim frame of an LCD monitor with the beautiful picture quality of an LED rear-projection cube. “It is designed specifically for video walls, because with the Super Narrow bezel, the pixel-to-pixel gap between adjacent units is only 5.7 mm – perfect for providing a smooth, seamless picture over any size video wall.”

Quality products, complete system realization, user-friendliness, and customer service: these are part of the philosophy behind the perfect visual solutions from eyevis.

Brighter display solutions The Seventy Series LED cube engine from Mitsubishi Electric is ideal for an array of installations including mission critical and control room applications.

Mitsubishi has long-recognised the potential benefits of LED lighting for its cube products. Unlike conventional mercury lamps, solid-state light sourc-es do not need a rotating colour wheel; their wider gamut delivers richer col-ours and produces a more uniform screen brightness. They also create far less long-term environmental impact, and the elimination of consumables such as lamps and replace-ment colour wheels reduces the long-term cost of ownership.

The new cubes share a common set of features with the convention-ally-lit Seventy Series cubes, features designed to make them quick to install and easy to manage. Seventy Series cubes can be supplied with a unique Auto-Geometry set-up option that produces perfectly-aligned images automatically. Built-in sensors monitor light output and share this data with neighbouring cubes, enabling the dynamic colour and bright-ness balancing system to maintain an extremely accurate colour/bright-ness balance over the whole display without the need for an external computer. In the new LED version, the red, green and blue LED light sources are monitored individually for even greater accuracy.

The LED version offers three different brightness modes, for normal, bright or economy operation. Power consumption and light output is adjusted automatically to ensure the best quality image in each mode. Mitsubishi’s unique Colour Space Control manages the colour balanc-ing of multi-display walls automatically, and the company’s innovative Digital Graduation Circuit ensures each cube delivers true, uniform edge-to-edge brightness.

On-board intelligence is another hallmark feature of Seventy Series products. Built-in processing enables multi-window displays to be cre-ated without an external processor. A range of optional input boards provide DVI, VGA, composite and component video, SDI and HD-SDI inputs, with 2 input connectors per card. For more complicated applica-tions, Seventy Series LED can be used with Mitsubishi’s VC-X3000 processor and D-Wall software suite to create an extremely powerful turnkey display system.

MORE DISPLAY SOLUTIONS Whether its budget or function, your criteria can be met

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Face it, we’re delving into the realms of science fiction here: computers that understand what they’re looking at. Although we’re not quite there yet, there is still a place for this remarkable technology and as the software improves and computers get more powerful, it will only improve

We’re all excited by analytics V i d e o a n a l y t i c s | C C T V I m a g e

VIDEO ANALYTICS is one of the most exciting fields of devel-opment in the CCTV sector.

Admittedly, none of us wants to appear too enthusiastic, or look foolish in our expectations – not like the police inspector who recently asked one company if their software could spot con-cealed weapons in video foot-age (to which came the common sense reply ‘well, can you spot concealed weapons?’ – obvi-ous, we’d never have asked that one…)

Certainly anyone who has fol-lowed developments over the last three or four years has taken on board the ‘expectation manage-ment’ message from developers.

And yet - analytics have come such a long way in such a short time that much more impressive things are surely waiting just over the horizon, aren’t they?

Eye on the horizon But what are the short term development prospects for analytics sys-tems, and is it worth buying them now rather than waiting a couple more years? The answer to the second question is undoubtedly yes, analytics can be a useful tool right now for a growing number of applications.

Our expectations may have been ‘managed’ but it’s clear that the best systems already do some jobs very effectively: spotting intrud-ers in ‘sterile’ zones, counting people or vehicles, identifying when something moves that shouldn’t move (or vice versa).

The viability of analytics techniques – the fact that they now offer practical solutions to real problems - is being driven forward not just by increases in computing power or the refinement of algorithms, but also by the fact that the latest cameras and surveillance equipment produce higher quality images for the software to work on.

Further, companies such as Ganz Solutions are putting forward some good, practical ways that analytics can be used. The latest edge-based Ganz VCA solutions can help save money, or bring in more revenue, and the company hopes that this will appeal to cash-strapped local authorities and other major system users.

One of the most knowledgeable practitioners working in the analyt-ics field is Geoff Thiel of VCA Technology whose software is among the front runners and is used by a number of major CCTV equipment manufacturers as the basis for their analytics solutions.

Geoff sums up the current level of development with a neat image: “If the goal is for your system to be capable of analysing video as well as a human being, then we’re at about mouse level. What I mean by that is that if a person wants to fool a mouse, all they have to do is sit very still. If the person doesn’t move then the mouse won’t ‘see’ them. That’s about the level of sophistication that analytics have reached.”

The gulf that separates mouse vision from human vision is a

massive one – to get from one side to the other entails a step-change improvement from just ‘seeing’ to actually acquiring some sort of understanding.

“We might be able to get to that level, if you give me a computer that’s ten thousand times faster and then build in all the knowledge that I’ve been learning from the moment I was born. But then if we could do that we’d have robots doing our jobs as well. Those devel-opments would have much more massive implications for automation and our society than just how well analytics works!”

Fantasy & realityIt’s useful to keep this perspective in mind when thinking about why analytics systems find apparently easy tasks impossible to deal with (and why those scenarios in TV dramas really are fantasy).

If you place a toy car on your windowsill you can make it appear to be the same size and shape as a real car parked outside on the road. To us the difference is obvious and we can see at a glance that the two are totally different things.

But our ability to make this apparently simple distinction is based on very subtle visual clues such as reflections in the glass, shadows around the objects, the different quality of light inside and out, and colour subtly reflected from one object onto another. We are not always consciously aware of all these ‘cues’ but we still interpret them in an instant. Crucially, we also use context: we know that there are such things as toy cars, and real cars and we know lots of small ways in which they look different.

Geoff gives an example of an apparently simple analytics task that proved much more challenging than expected, and almost cost one system supplier its incumbent position with a large retail chain-store customer.

“We were contacted by the company which was very worried that their current analytics weren’t working at certain times of day in cer-tain stores. The system was supposed to count people coming into the stores but it was getting massively exaggerated footfall-counts in the

Computers have to be taught things that humans take for granted

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mornings or evenings as the rising or setting sun streamed in through the doors. The problem was being caused by movement of the auto-matic doors causing sunlight reflections and shadows to move across the floor in the detection area. Worse still, moving the camera and detection area was not possible because during the day the shadows and reflections moved around with the sun angle making the whole of the shop front a no-go area for the analytics. ”

VCA’s ‘Counting Line’ algorithm, which is one of its three key analytics solutions that it offers to the market, solved the customer’s problem and is particularly in demand for retail applications.

“For these counting tasks you need a very tolerant system that can deal with difficult lighting conditions. Another problem is high reflectivity – light thrown up from shiny floors, for example. We developed an algorithm that is very good at counting people.”

Other applications include in the transport sector. In a recent test, the VCA Technology algorithm achieved 95% accuracy counting people through an airport doorway, and neither was it fooled by pas-sengers wheeling suitcases behind them, or by people coming through in clusters.

But there are limits. Geoff describes another challenge, and this one was too difficult to overcome by just using analytics, the camera location had to be changed as well.

“We came across a situation recently that completely defeated the analytics. The site in question had an eight foot high security gate that slid across a double roadway. The user wanted an analytics system to monitor how often the guards came out of the gatehouse, to verify that it was at least once every half hour.”

This sounds simple, but it wasn’t. Every time the gate opened the system was fooled for about a minute. This is because it could no longer rely on the basic analytics technique of separating the fore-ground from the background – the change in gate position looked like a massive change to the background.

“If you know how analytics works, you won’t be surprised that we couldn’t solve the problem. In the end the only answer was to move the camera to a downward view so that the gate was not in the detec-tion zone.”

What now? So with these caveats in mind, how can users take advantage of ana-lytics now?

They can choose between installing analytics at the centre – with software running on PCs or DVRs in the control room - or at the ‘edge’, with the latest IP cameras featuring analytics capability too. Both routes have their advantages. The choice will probably be dictated by whether you’re building a new system, or just want to add analytics functions to a few locations to achieve specific goals or perhaps experiment with how well it works, and how it well it improves operations.

For example, all Mitsubishi’s new IP cameras come equipped with basic video analytics, which includes an advanced tracking algorithm promising low false alarm rates, real time data tracking and detection zones.

The company also offers an advanced package that can be pur-chased as an optional upgrade that comes equipped with behavioural detection, 3D behaviour, counting functions and meta data.

“Our video analytics offers a range of innovative features,” says Dean Kemp, Sales Manager. “For example, it can identify different objects (from people to animals) and monitor them accordingly. It alerts users of suspicious behaviour by detecting different move-ments including direction, stopping, loitering, entering, exiting, appearing and disappearing motions. The 3D behaviour feature evaluates images and puts them into perspective, improving the accuracy of the surveillance which is particularly useful when reducing false alarms.

“The advanced tracking algorithm enables on screen monitoring

without the need of a security guard. Overall running costs and time can be reduced dra-matically, as a 24/7 security guard is not needed.”

Other features promoted by Mitsubishi include an easy-to-use web browser interface, early warning alarms, real-time data tracking and people/vehicle counting facilities.

Mitsubishi’s video analyt-ics have passed the i-LIDS test and have also received several certificate tests such as CE and FCC – all useful standards that can serve as a starting point for anyone assessing the various market options. (Developed by the Home Office Scientific Development Branch, the I-LIDS standard assesses how well analytics systems perform using CCTV video footage of four scenarios: abandoned baggage detection; parked vehicle detection; sterile zone monitoring; and doorway surveillance).

Black wall monitoring Ganz analytics achieved certification for Secondary Detection in the i-LIDS sterile zone monitoring test.

The sort of practical application being advocated by the company includes ‘black wall monitoring’, an approach which is designed to reduce the monitoring workload and, in some situations, allow control rooms to scale back on staffing.

While, as we have seen, software cannot come anywhere near the ability of a human beings to interpret or even understand what is shown on screen, it can be used to filter out images which do not meet some basic criteria.

For example, says Santosh Muniswamappa, of Ganz Solutions, when there is no movement on the scene in a defined area, the image does not need to be displayed on the monitor wall.

Only when movement is detected (or when another criteria is ful-filled, such as an item being left where it shouldn’t be) is the image fed through to the monitors. Using this technique there is an increased chance that priority images will attract the attention of the operators.

“This smart way of using surveillance eases mental strain on CCTV operators, creates more proactive security systems and improves the overall operational efficiency of the system.”

Ganz offers a comprehensive range of detection filters which pro-vide the means to discriminate between different object behaviours, depending on the scene being watched. This allows system designers to choose how the solution works.

“Easy to set up, GANZ VCA automatically adjusts to the condi-tions it encounters, meaning that it is ideal for both experienced and untrained personnel to use.”

Users can choose between a useful list of features: intrusion detec-tion; vehicle monitoring; abandoned object detection; people count-ing; loitering detection; tamper detection; object removal; and shape based detection.

Looking forward, Ganz also raises the possibility of using analytics to upgrade CCTV cameras to allow them to be used as speed cameras, either by switching to smart IP cameras or simply by adding an IP video encoder to existing legacy units. Analytics would allow coun-cils to get much better value from much of their public area CCTV infrastructure, he suggests.

“This kind of innovative approach would give the councils a dual edge, potentially allowing them to use their numerous CCTV camer-

Geoff Thiel

Cont’d next page

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as for speed violation detection as well as surveillance. There would be no requirement of film or local media as these images can be transmitted remotely. This technology can be extend-ed to not just speed detection, but behaviour monitoring (loi-tering), left object detection, parking violations, one way breaches, red light violations, etc. This will allow councils to get a better return on investment from legacy infrastructure already in place.”

Camera choice Ganz also stresses the importance of linking analytics to the right hardware, because it can do much more with the right cameras.

For example, in one project for a nuclear power plant the company has transformed the effectiveness of analytics by replacing day/night cameras with thermals.

“In this case analytics are being used to detect intruders at key perimeter locations, but noise from the day/night cameras as light levels fell was generating huge numbers of false alarms. By using thermals instead we have solved the problem. The intruder detection analytics work perfectly.”

In another, industrial application, a thermal camera is being used to monitor hot smoke as metal is smelted; an analytic algorithm triggers additional lighting at the site whenever the density of smoke crosses a specified threshold. The enhanced light allows conventional CCTV monitoring of the smelting to continue.

It’s also worth paying attention to the software interface and processing because, with good systems, more can be made of the analytics features.

For example, Ganz smart NVRs allow playback video to be treated with analytics as well as live video. As a practical example, this means that a search can be made of recorded footage with analytic functions retrospectively applied to the recordings even though they were not originally used – to identify when a particular object moved,

for example a car being stolen from a car park.

Analytics are also being used to create more robust, multiple-alarm functions with the Ganz VSOIP suite. With this approach, several detectors or types of detector can be linked with video analytics; an alarm is only triggered when a predefined number of detectors is activated, resulting in a more robust system.

Analytics as standardLooking at what’s on the market at the moment – and most of the big manufacturers are now offering some analytics in some form – Geoff Thiel says that buyers have some fairly simple choices to make.

The leading developers are pretty much neck and neck, he points out, because they are all relying on the same computing power and facing the same basic constraints.

The surest approach is for planners to test systems for themselves, particularly if they are considering a major investment or worried about making a poor choice.

“Our algorithms are regularly tested against other major developers - such as IoImage and Bosch - and we normally come out ahead, so we are confident that our system is as good as the best.”

Certainly be sceptical about over-optimistic claims, he cautions – but on the other hand don’t be too sceptical or you may overlook the very real benefits that analytics systems can deliver today.

And you are most likely to reap benefits in cost savings and effi-ciencies if you have a clear specific objective in mind that matches the already-established strengths of this developing technology.

V i d e o a n a l y t i c s | C C T V I m a g e

Triple VSoIP screens from Ganz

AS TECHNOLOGY continues to develop so does the need for an advanced security system that not only provides reli-able security surveillance but also benefits from a range of value added functions; that’s why Mitsubishi Electric, a world leader in the innovative design and manufacture of enhanced security products, has launched a new range of fully functional IP solutions.

Built to the highest standard Mitsubishi’s new IP cameras are all network ready enabling on-screen security monitoring via the internet, regardless of distance and location. Ideal for multi site locations, our range of indoor and outdoor cameras are MPEG-4 and H.264 compatible, feature full frame rates and quality settings up to D1 and comes equipped with the very latest video ana-lytics (standard analytics built in – advanced video analytics package available as an optional upgrade).

Over recent years, video analytics has become increasingly popu-lar within the security market. With so many CCTV cameras within today’s society, on screen security monitoring can be timely, costly and inefficient. Mitsubishi’s video analytics package has been designed to eliminate these issues by using dedicated software to monitor real time CCTV surveillance and proactively respond to different characteristics

and motions. With a range of innovative features, video analytics is able to detect and identify different objects such as people, vehicles, trees and animals and track these objects accordingly. If the software monitors a movement, behaviour or action that appears suspicious it is able to warn the user immediately. At the same time it is also programmed to ignore irrelevant information like a tree

blowing in the wind or a bird flying, reducing false alarm rates dramatically. The 3D behaviour feature puts images into perspective by

evaluating the size, distance and speed of movements, improving overall detection, accuracy and reliability of the analysis, whilst the advanced tracking algorithm enables on screen monitoring without the need of a security guard.

Easy to use, Mitsubishi’s video analytics comes equipped with a user friendly web browser interface. Furthermore the software can also be used for market research, with a people and vehicle counting function which uses specified zones to calculate the busyness of an area.

Overall Mitsubishi’s video analytics is more reliable than a security guard; it eliminates human error and reduces overall running costs. For further information please call Mitsubishi direct on 01707-278684.

BUILT-IN SMARTS Mitsubishi cameras feature on-board intelligent video capabilities

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Powerful 18x or 36x optical camera for long-range identification

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Flexible site selectable mounting positions including: Upright, Hanging or Inclinedumbilical cord Mosaic privacy zones The flat window means no distortion

Supplied with Power Supply, 4” PCD & 10meter umbilical cord

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The hardware for video management systems is ballooning in size because software vendors aren’t very efficient at writing the code that controls the system, says Jay Patel of J2K Video. He claims that his company’s software can slash your hardware and operating costs dramatically

Blame the software V i d e o m a n a g e m e n t s y s t e m s | C C T V I m a g e

Editor’s note: While we generally shy away from articles that directly compare one manufacturer against another, especially when it has been written by one of the manufac-turers in question, we found this article to contain sufficient evidence to warrant publication. However, we accept that there will be different points of view and we invite other manufacturers to comment on Mr Patel’s article – we only ask that you provide evidence to justify your claims.

IT IS WELL KNOWN and accepted that current CCTV equipment fails to deliver video of sufficient quality to be used alone as evidence in law enforcement. Recorded video is predominantly of insufficient resolution for rec-ognition and very few frames available of an incident to be of any use.

The introduction of megapixel cameras begins to address this, however the other parts of the system need to be able to cope with the high data rates required. Upgraded net-work topology and the use of dedicated Gigabit networks can resolve the problems of streaming the data however the recording systems which are the key to gathering the evidence need to be of suf-ficient performance to cope.

The problem Video recording equipment in the CCTV industry can be grouped into two distinct camps; Windows based and Linux based. Both are available as either software only or embedded standalone units.

The relative ease and familiarity of installing Windows software, makes this a popular choice for many manufacturers who provide CCTV record-ing. The downside can be problems associated with implementing the soft-ware onto hardware for larger, more demanding applications, for example recording many cameras at full frame rates or recording high resolution images from megapixel cameras.

More common are embedded systems that are sold as complete units offering users the familiarity of traditional VHS recorders where control is via front panel buttons. Some of these are also based on the Windows operating system, however for significant reduction in costs, Linux is more often used by major brand manufacturers and other low-cost volume suppliers. However, these too are inherently handicapped when required to record large numbers of cameras at full frame rates and megapixel resolution.

The reasons cited for not delivering acceptable quality tend to be that the costs of hard disks is too high – even though hard disk prices have col-lapsed since their adoption in CCTV over the past eight years – and also that hardware performance is not good enough. So systems installed fail to provide high resolution and full frame rate recordings as users continue to set up the recorders to record in CIF resolution and one frame per second typically.

Manufacturers in both camps – either Windows or Linux based products – are unable to provide for very high resolution HD and multi-megapixel cameras in a cost-effective way. The problem lies in their software’s inabil-ity to cope with the significantly higher bandwidth needed for recording at the highest quality from these cameras.

With HD cameras, both individual image file size and streaming data rates can be ten times that of normal MPEG-4 composite (PAL/NTSC) video which established recording products just cannot cope with. Because of their inherent limitations, DVR and NVR manufacturers suggest record-ing from these cameras at low frame rates and reduced resolution which fails to solve the problem and fails to utilise the benefits of the cameras.

In order to overcome the fundamental problems of their software, manu-facturers (including software suppliers) specify very high performance, expensive, leading edge hardware, for example servers using dual quad-core Xeon Intel processors with high speed 15,000 rpm SCSI-SAS hard disks and several gigabytes of RAM.

There are major problems with this approach that impacts directly on the costs and therefore prevent it from being adopted. Other more significant problems include the associated system reliability as the inefficiency of the software will require greater cooling and increased power to run the hardware.

Additional high powered back-up UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supplies) will be required to maintain system operation and the higher electrical power consumption will add to cooling costs and therefore increase overall system running costs.

The solutionThe solution is to implement high performance software on standard, cost-effective hardware platforms that require less power and lower costs in implementation.

J2K Video’s SharpView software has been specifically

Manufacturer Camera Model Video Format Resolution (pixel)Image Rate (fps)

Bit Rate (Mbps)

Arecont AV3110M M-JPEG 2048 x 1536 8 17

Arecont AV5105 H.264 2560 x 1600 6 8

JVC VN-V25U MPEG4 640 x 480 25 2

JVC VN-X35U M-JPEG 1280 x 960 16 19

Lumenera Le259c M-JPEG 1920 x 1080 12 16

Lumenera Le11059c M-JPEG 4008 x 2672 2 16

Sanyo VCC-HD2100P H.264 1920 x 1080 25 4

Samsung SNC-B2315P MPEG4 720 x 576 25 2

Samsung SNC-M300P M-JPEG 2048 x 1536 10 19

UDP NVE1000A (PAL/NTSC encoder)

MPEG4 704 x 576 25 2

Transmission bit rates of some popular CCTV cameras

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designed for recording megapixel video at full resolution and full frame rates with no increase in the cost of the base hardware platform. SharpView exhibits a ten-fold increase in performance compared to the leading brands’ software and results in less than half the electrical power consumption of rivals’ solutions.

With this capability, users of SharpView are able to record a mix-ture of standard definition at full 25/30 fps as well as the much higher bandwidths of megapixel cameras without compromising on frame rate and image quality.

J2K Video have conducted extensive testing of SharpView using a range of cameras. The typical bit rates from the cameras used are shown below (facing page) with image quality (compression or bit rate) set to average and maximum obtainable frame rates.

As shown in the table, the new range of HD and megapixel cameras can output video streams approaching 10 times the bandwidth of con-ventional VGA, encoded PAL/NTSC video. So camera manufactur-ers are under pressure to minimise the increases by applying greater compression to the already heavily compressed video (M-JPEG), for example by the introduction of MPEG2, MPEG4 and now H.264.

This has often resulted in the reduction of image quality and raised concern as to the suitability of conditional refresh compression for recording CCTV. Additionally, as previously mentioned, system manufacturers and software suppliers typically push the increased bandwidth load onto hardware as their software is unable to cope with the increased video load.

Using typical (industrial grade) PC components, SharpView can record video at over 375Mbps. The hardware consists of a single Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz processor, 1GB RAM, small operating system disk and between 2 to 8 storage disks, each 7200rpm. This is the standard hardware specification of SharpView NVRs and would be regarded as the lowest specification or ‘entry level’ server by today’s standards.

To achieve an equivalent performance to SharpView, major manu-facturers specify hardware with tremendous power as the inefficiency of their software requires significantly more computing power.

ComparisonJ2K Video carried out an extensive study, comparing SharpView against products from leading manufacturers. Leading manufacturers including software suppliers were contacted to propose a solution for CCTV recording at a typical small to medium-sized site that would require a mixture of standard definition and megapixel IP cameras.

All those contacted were established companies showing global sales in year 2008-2009 of over US$20Million (except one as noted).

The system to be specified should be capable of recording from cameras at the stated video quality:• 30 x PAL cameras to record in D1 resolution, 25 fps, MPEG4 for use inside the building• 5 x JVC VN-X35U 1.3MP cameras at 6 fps, M-JPEG for use at entrances• 4 x Arecont AV5100M 5MP cameras at 5 fps, M-JPEG for use out-doors along the perimeter

The system was to be set for recording on motion at 45 per cent activity and storage required for 31 days. The video input bandwidth was calculated at just over 108Mbps and the total storage required was just below 16TB.

It was left to the manufacturers to propose suitable encoders or built-in encoding (DVR) for the 30 analogue PAL cameras.

The proposals received from the manufacturers are compared with J2K Video’s SharpView solution in the table below.

Hardware details as well as any special software has been detailed alongside the trade prices (to the installer/systems integrator) submitted by the respondants. Estimated peak power consumption is also shown for the recommended recording hardware (only), excluding the power consumption of encoders or any accessories or workstation PCs, with the exception of (*) who proposed a solution that includes built-in encoding (DVR).

ConclusionJ2K Video’s SharpView software demonstrates that implementation of full frame rate and high definition megapixel video does not require very high performance hardware or massively expensive solutions and there is no need to compromise on the recording quality of video from high quality PAL/NTSC and HD, megapixel cameras. Instead standard entry level, low cost servers can be used to create CCTV systems that faithfully record the full available quality from cameras.

Camera makers can maintain the highest quality of video output from their cameras and need not invest in newer forms of extra com-pression that actually compromises the quality of video.

The cost and power consumption of recording systems for high frame rates, HD and megapixel video should therefore not increase significantly if efficient software such as SharpView is used as only increased storage is required (at minimal extra costs).

Company System Specifi edCost (US$) Comment / Estimated power consumption

Leading EU soft-ware developer

• HP Proliant server with dual Intel Quad Core Xeon X5450 3.0GHz 120W 12MB L2 Cache and 2 x 146GB 15,000RPM SAS disks confi gured as RAID-0 • External storage with 15TB iSCSI SAN • Base software with 39 camera licenses • Windows Server 2003/2008

$32,265 Company stated that performance had not been tested with mixed camera resolutions and they had no results with 5MP cameras but response was provided on bit rate assumptions. • Power consumption = 1200W

Leading UK system manufacturer

• 4 x 1U high 8-channel DVR with total 6TB storage for 30 x PAL cameras • 2 x 4U high server with Intel Xeon Quad Core Q8300, 4Mb Cache, 1333MHz FSB, 8000GB in-ternal storage disks • Workstation PC supplied (unspecifi ed performance, Windows only)

$28,218 Only manufacturer in the UK who provided response (but an-nual sales are less than $20m). Proposed own MPEG2 DVR and 2 separate NVR units for the Megapixel cameras – total of six separate units for the recording. • Power consumption = 2600W

Leading US soft-ware developer

• Dell server with 2 x Dual Core Intel Xeon 5150, 2.66GHz, 4MB Cache, 1333MHz FSB, 4GB RAM, 80GB local storage • External storage 16TB • Base software license plus 39 camera license • Microsoft Windows Server 2003/2008, SQL Server Express SP3

$28,800 Respondent would not commit to performance based on HD or Megapixel cameras but cited equivalent performance with 4CIF/30fps at 2Mbps and 640x480 at 30fps cameras. • Power consumption = 1250W

Leading Israeli sys-tem manufacturer

• Embedded NVR with Intel L5100 Quad Core Xeon, 4MB Cache. 1333MHz FSB, 4GB RAM, Windows Server 2003 • RAID-5 storage unit 15TB • Workstation PC with Administrator license (mandatory hardware and Windows based software) • 5 viewer licenses • Branded PoE switch

$30,750 Respondent provided a statement of conformance, however could not provide any documentation or results of testing at this performance level. • Power consumption = 1000W

Leading Japanese system manufac-turer

• 6 x embedded Windows based NVR with 1TB internal storage • 6 x USB expansion units each 2TB storage • Viewer licenses included for separate workstation PC (not included)

$40,230 Company could not guarantee performance with proposed megapixel cameras. • Power consumption = 980W

J2K Video Ltd • SharpView Corporate NVR: SVR-64NI-16000-R8 comprising of 2U high server unit including Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz, E6600, 4MB Cache, 1GB RAM, 160GB OS disk, 16TB internal (removable) storage • SharpView Manager Professional software license for Windows or Mac OSX workstation (not provided)

$15,300 Less than half the price and half the power consumption during operation of any major manufacturer who claim to deliver megapixel video recording capabilities. • Power consumption = 500W

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Regent’s College has steadily invested in CCTV over the years, growing its system from 16 cameras a decade ago to 132 today. A few years ago, working with its installation company, it switched to a new system that also enables it to integrate the cameras with the access control system

CCTV protects Regent’s College C a s e s t u d y | C C T V I m a g e

EXPANDING SURVEILLANCE equipment provider Genie CCTV has provided CCTV monitoring for Regent’s College London, the largest college of private higher education in the UK. Situated in the heart of the capital within Regent’s Park, the College’s 3700 students are internationally diverse and multicultural – over 100 different nationalities are represented and more than 110 languages spoken on campus.

Comprising seven specialist schools, four of which offer undergraduate programmes, the College has three schools offering UK degrees while the fourth follows the US education sys-tem and allows students to gain an American degree in the centre of London.

Scott Costello, facilities manager for Campus Services at the College, explains that the main quadrangle of classrooms is surrounded by halls of residence, lawns and tennis courts, and beyond this the ornamental gardens and lakes of the Royal Park. In addition to the College’s students, up to 1500 conference delegates can be on-site at any one time, while commercial receptions and similar corporate events are regularly held in the grounds from spring until autumn.

Regent’s College’s high profile status and location requires com-mensurate security measures and Genie CCTV cameras and advanced digital recording systems have been introduced to survey a variety of exterior and interior areas including the College car park, main reception space, corridors, student accommodation walkways and the immediate perimeter.

Growing system Midlands-based installation specialist Unison Integrated Technology has been involved from the outset, starting ten years ago with a 16-camera system and rising to 132 cameras currently.

Pete Rodden of Unison says a decision was made three years ago to switch to Genie CCTV-sourced systems and already 102 Genie VRCD-5351 day/night vandal resistant dome cameras are in action internally, and 30 Genie GSDNR-5358/DV super high resolution day/night bod-

ied cameras are used for external viewing. This helps protect the 11-hectare site’s boundary.

The cameras are linked to nine of Genie’s latest 16-channel quad-raplex DVRs, G D V R - M 6 1 6 . These MPEG4 digital recorders provide simulta-neous recording/playback/backup, network access,

400FPS recording at CIF, up to 3Tb internal record-ing capacity and a host of other features including free multi-site client software with E-MAP.

“We recently changed over from multiplexed VCR recording to digital and were so impressed with the Genie DVRs’ combina-tion of superior playback facilities, real-time record-ing quality and cost-effec-tive pricing that it made no sense to specify anything else,” comments Mr Costello.

He adds that the surveillance system is integrated with the College’s access control system, enabling security staff to review images of inci-dents such as students forcing doors. The main problems that have been successfully tackled using the CCTV cameras are thefts and vandalism, with walk-in thefts falling dramatically from up to 10 per day to a maxi-mum of three per year now.

Besides the main protection role of the surveillance measures, the College’s CCTV system is also used to prevent any other incidents from escalating and provide useful management functions including safe peo-ple movement around the site plus health & safety cover.

Car park management, along with checks on daily deliveries, environ-mental waste collections and contractor visits are other practical exam-ples of on-site activity monitoring by Mr Costello’s security team.

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A u t u m n 2 0 1 0

38Issue sponsor

IT IS OFTEN seen as something of an unquali-fied good thing that the police have a resource in private security. This might especially be thought to be the case in an era when cut backs in public expenditure generally, and this includes resources made available to the police, mean they need to look for alternatives.

Yet in practice there are a range of barriers to effective working that have emerged from a study that we have conducted with ACPO officers and supplemented with a survey of Superintendents. This is rare access to elite groups that effectively act as gatekeepers for private security providers wanting to work with

the police. After briefly outlining the ways in which private security can work for the police I will discuss four of the main barriers in this article, and some more in the next issue of CCTV Image.

Many people will be aware of the role played by private security, in its different forms, in policing, and will have seen evidence of it at, for exam-ple, football matches and music events. There have also been some high profile collaborations under the Private Finance Initiative.

In all there are at least four ways in which the police currently work with private security staff: • First, staff can work as partners in local community safety schemes. Some point to successes under the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme (CSAS) although support across the country is patchy. • Second companies can be engaged as strategic partners, and there is evidence of this in preparations for the Olympics where, for example, David Evans of the BSIA is actively engaged in strategy development and implementation. • Third the private sector can be sub-contractors. This is not uncommon, especially in providing back office support, but also in some police services. For example, some forces sub contract the management of their custody suites, some do the same for their front office function at police stations. • Finally, the two can work in competition. This could be where the local community pay for private security patrols to supplement any police activity.

Despite these examples, and there are many more, some suppliers felt they could do a lot more to help the police. It seems that opportunities to improve services for local communities are being missed by a lack of joined up thinking. The barriers have not previously been properly considered.

Lack of leadership It is striking that police interviewees highlighted and somewhat lamented the absence of leadership in guiding work with private security. The criti-cism started with police-led representative groups, who they felt had some-what ignored the issue, but it extended to Government too.

Indeed, it seems that there is no great push from any direction on this issue and as we shall see there are some negative pressures. Some inter-viewees noted that there needed to be some type of incentive to use private security staff. Some pointed to the money made available by Government for Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) as an example. The initial scepticism about these workers has given way to general praise. Along the same lines it was noted that the slow response, in some areas at least, to the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme was due in part to a lack of fund-ing against a background where some viewed the scheme as an administra-tive burden where the benefits were less obviously evident. It was not just police leadership that is viewed to be lacking; some noted that more could come from private security to the police in a way they could relate to.

There is an opportunity here. Clear leadership from the police (especially

ACPO) and the BSIA is necessary to guide the police on what they can expect from the private security sector. An engagement strategy needs to be developed demonstrating the opportunities, benefits and methods of closer working. This is doable given the political will.

Lack of accountabilityA second barrier was the perceived lack of accountability of the private security sector. Indeed, three-quarters (75 per cent, n=53) of superintendents cited this as a hindrance to closer working. Furthermore, and this may be surprising, interviews with police chiefs revealed a general lack of aware-ness of the current regulation regime for the private security sector.

Worse still, where there was a good understanding of the existing regime there was often scepticism of it, and this in some cases undermined a com-mitment to working with the industry. Several interviewees felt that the Security Industry Authority reforms had not gone far enough to render security companies credible police partners and felt that the lack of police input fuelled scepticism.

Indeed, some interviewees wanted to distance the police from the security sector altogether. Against this some pointed to significant improvements, particularly in the work of door supervisors who were seen as credible part-ners (in some cases) in policing the night-time economy. Reassurance about vetting and training and also supervision seem crucial here.

Once again, there is an opportunity to respond. In some quarters the cur-rent regulatory structure is misunderstood and the benefits have not been made clear to all parties. This needs to be addressed. Clearly, engaging the police meaningfully going forward has much to commend it.

Opposing principlesThere is a danger in working with the private sector in front-line policing and that is that it could result in a two-tier police service, one for those who can pay and one for the rest. As a consequence, this can lead to inconsistent service delivery. But there was another concern here that the private sector being profit driven, would just remove its services if they were not profit-able, leaving a gap in provision or, at the other extreme, overcharge in the absence of competitors. That private security companies are accountable to those who pay led some to doubt that they could ever be truly impartial. An exception here may be where police are the clients, although some chief officers are sceptical.

The doubts about the consistency, impartiality and general trustworthi-ness of private security need to be challenged. This might be undertaken in the short term in the form of case studies, and longer term via independent evaluations.

Threat to reputationThe final point I want to mention briefly here and overlaps the last one, is the perception that the profit-making drive of the private security sector could be damaging to the reputation of the police. The Police Federation were frequently cited as having a jaundiced view, less frequently police authorities, and the general public too, although not with evidence obvi-ously.

This evidence heightens the need to manage the relationship with private security staff more thoughtfully. The gap in understanding how the public view the involvement of private security staff needs filling and relating to specific policing tasks.

In the next issue I will outline other barriers and potential remedies.

Prof Martin Gill

Police and private security Barriers for private security in working with the Police. Part one

C C T V R e s e a r c h | C C T V I m a g e

• Professor Martin Gill is Director of Perpetuity Research and Consultancy International (PRCI), [email protected]; 0774 028 4286.

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A u t u m n 2 0 1 0

40Issue sponsor

THIS FINE publication recently showed pho-tographs of a spanking new CCTV control room. Nothing unusual there. Nothing unusual where, for the umpteenth time, regular-width CCTV pictures are stretched to a wholly wrong aspect ratio over wide flat-screen monitors. Let’s spend just one page thinking about it, just like some people seemingly didn’t.

Take the normal 4:3 CCTV picture and stretch it over a typical 16:9 LCD and you end up with a sideways distortion of 33 per cent. That’s a whole one-third!

Why should this annoy us? Because there’s only a profound sideways distortion that indi-

cates disregard for proper system design. No better level of detail being created. Can you imagine calling police and telling them, “the suspect is an IC1 male wearing yellow and with a curiously wide head….Yeah, looks like Stewie Griffin off that Family Guy cartoon”?! Seriously, why tell responders to look for a “fat bloke” when the video display has mis-represented his appearance?

This common arrangement shows ignorance. Ok, if widescreen moni-tors are bought in anticipation of HD CCTV in the future (which is 16:9) then that’s acceptable forward planning. But, please, in the meantime show 4:3 pictures properly. With a single picture you’ll see a black margin each side. With a split screen you’ll get more cameo images! Surely an advantage.

The bad practice doesn’t stop there.

Narrow gaugePictures are often displayed as too narrow. Ok, the effect is not dramatic, but my beef is that again it shows a disregard or ignorance of correct tech-nique by CCTV designers. This is usually when showing digital video on a computer display.

Here’s an explanation. The normal 4:3 picture when digitized is 576 pixels high and 720 pixels wide. Yes, clever you, maths shows that the 576 picture lines dictates 768 pixels horizontally. The world some time ago agreed that the sampling process will actually give 720 pixels. So, to avoid distortion, they agreed that each pixel will be rectangular, about 7 per cent wider than it is tall. That way the correct 4:3 picture is recreated on the display screen. Good practice is possible.

Disappointingly, many bits of CCTV software simply display these rectangular pixels as square ones on a computer screen. So, the result is a display where images that are too narrow by 7 per cent! Back to the police radio: “the suspect is an IC1 male wearing yellow and with a really narrow head….Yeah, looks like Woody off that Toy Story movie”?!

One of the most interesting jobs we are hired to undertake as independ-ent CCTV consultants is the comparison of digital video recorders, espe-

cially on behalf of our customers who might be non-tech-nical people.

This work has highlighted a third annoying aspect, particularly regard-ing DVRs and their software-driven inter-faces shown on a pc screen. The problem is that digitized CCTV images are displayed to the CCTV operator by the machine’s GUI on a computer screen. Wouldn’t it make sense to achieve optimum picture clarity by arranging for each pixel in the footage to correspond with a single pixel on the display? Surely, yes, because the alternatives reduce picture quality.

If the image is displayed using fewer pixels than the footage actually contains then many of the picture details simply get ‘ignored’ by the dis-play because the software driving the display has to recreate the image so that each of the display’s pixels knows what colour to show. The neces-sary ‘downsampling’ software can sully the CCTV image too.

By the same argument, if the image is displayed using more pixels than the footage actually contains then many of the picture details simply get created by the display equipment. Significantly, the software driving the display has to recreate the image (‘upsample’) so that each of the display’s pixels knows what colour to show. The upsampling software can sully the CCTV image too. It is simply fabricating its detailed infor-mation.

In order to arrange the CCTV images on the GUI, be it a single image or maybe 25 images in a ‘mosaic’ of ‘cameos’, the software almost invar-iably shrinks or expands the images as described above, thereby reducing clarity. Sometimes the software will ‘auto-fit’ the array of images to fill the screen and change their aspect ratios in order to fill it, giving rather unhelpful distortion of the footage. Sometimes it will allow the operator to arrange the images that they wish to watch into the available screen space by dragging with their mouse and sizing floating ‘windows’ around the screen, leading to even greater unhelpful distortion.

When testing DVRs on behalf of a customer I asked each product’s attendant salesman if their GUI included a button that simply set footage to the ideal 1:1 pixel assignment or, at least, something to force the cor-rect aspect ratio to be restored. Their machines didn’t. In fact, only when I spoke to the actual designer of one well-established DVR did I get the response, “What a good idea! We’d not thought of that.” In the words of the average American teenager… “duh?!”

The solution to these annoying aspects of CCTV? Be aware. Ask your suppliers to show that they don’t have these shortcom-ings. It’s quite likely that they will foist these problems upon you, if what I’ve seen around the market is anything to go by. Resist.

Talking Shop is our regular column written by techies for the not-so-techie minded. If you have a question and you’d like it answered by an impartial consultant with no sales axe to grind, please write to us. In this issue, Simon Lambert takes a sideways look at distorted aspect ratios

When aspect ratios go wrong T a l k i n g S h o p | C C T V I m a g e

• Taken from ‘The Independent CCTV Consultant’ Blog at Lambert & Associates’ website www.lambert-associates.co.uk/wordpress. Inspired by Myth Busters and the tale of The Emperor’s New Clothes, with a nod to Grumpy Old Men, the blog specializes in CCTV realities for everyone.

Simon Lambert

4:3 CCTV picture (left) stretched over 16:9 LCD – yuck!

Waaaayyyy too wide or

squashed by the GUI

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A u t u m n 2 0 1 0

43Issue sponsor

Industry NewsC C T V I m a g e | I n d u s t r y N e w s

Integrate alarms and CCTV with Initsys’s Merlin3 management systemInitsys’s is Europes’ market leader for integration of alarm signals and CCTV. The high-est growth security companies across Europe all have one thing in common: They all use Merlin3. Merlin3 encompasses alarm management correctly integrated with CCTV systems and access control, inbuilt video wall management and a range of supplementary services such as key and key holder management, energy data collection/processing, guard tour management and lone worker/track and trace. Merlin3 is compatible with alarm systems and DVR, NVR and IP cameras and can record images to its own database for digital locker purposes. Merlin is also a fully featured package for the control room operator, no matter what type of CCTV system or alarm is connected, it all appears the same to the operator. The operator can also make and receive incoming telephone calls, send audio warnings and listen to protected premises, by using the database keys can be controlled and key holders alerted.Tel. +44(0)1530-262100 • www.initsys.net

Siemens barrier-free parking a revolutionary way of preventing car park fraudThe incidence and value of car park fraud continues to increase year on year, with car park operators reporting several millions of pounds in lost annual revenue. Siemens has developed barrier-free parking, using automatic number plate recognition cameras (ANPR), fully integrated with sophisticated payment systems via a powerful software engine. The car park fee is

automatically checked by the system against the ticket purchased. If it is apparent that there is a shortfall or non-purchase of a ticket, the system will create a contravention report for underpayment or non-payment, detailing arrival and departure times. The re-port will include views of the car entering and exiting the car park. The car park operator can immediately issue a fi ne. The barrier-free parking system can be linked to the DVLA database which enables the contravention to be posted directly to the car owner’s address. Tel. +44(0)1932-898500 www.siemens.co.uk/securitysolutions

Ganz C-Allview cameras have gone IPAn integration of an excellent ruggedised PTZ camera and world class H.264 compression delivers a milestone in the evolution of IP video. The very successful GANZ range of C-AllView cameras have gone IP. The IP C-AllView is conceived and designed to be used with GANZ’s end to end IP video and alarm management solution VSoIP. The IP C-AllView boasts onboard video analytics including Intel-ligent PTZ tracking, electronic image stabilisation, camera tamper/hooded detection, intrusion detection, directional filters, left/theft object, loitering, lane and parking violations and many such advanced algorithms. The IP range will ex-tend to cover integrated IR C-AllViews, Thermal C-AllViews and normal C-AllViews This adds value to an installer in designing wireless installations using ruggedised cameras in remote locations.Tel. +44(0)20-8732 3300 • www.cbceurope.com

XProtect Essential from Milestone offers ‘Brilliant Simplicity’XProtect Essential is open platform IP video management software (VMS) designed for small, single-server businesses and can manage up to 26 surveillance cameras. XProtect Essential provides a wide offering of video surveillance features to effectively and intuitively manage your installation. XProtect Essential also provides high value with a flexible licensing model that allows for easy upgrades and system expansion. Easy to install and manage, XProtect Essential’s consolidated single-management interface provides an organized overview of cameras, connected devices, recordings and user settings. Designed for the small business market, XProtect Essential offers: • Wide capabilities • Surveillance on a future-proof platform • Unbeatable valueTel. +44 (0)1773 570709 • www.milestonesys.com

Improved brightness distribution for NEC MultiSync X462UNNEC Display Solutions announces the update to its successful videowall display component, MultiSync® X461UN 46-inch LCD public display, which features an ultra-narrow bezel and was the fi rst display of its kind to be shipped. The new MultiSync® X462UN boasts “Dark Edge Compensation”, known as “EdgeComp”, an innovative function to ensure an even distribution of light across the panel. The new version also offers additional and improved network features, as well as a future-proof DisplayPort connection which allows higher bandwidths and longer cables. The NEC MultiSync® X462UN also features extended network properties, such as SNMP support. With this additional standard network protocol, NEC Display Solutions has increased the bandwidth of network-based control and monitoring options for LCD public displays, making installations even more fl exible. Tel. +44(0)8701-201160 • www.nec-displays.co.uk

A clearer view with JVC’s new TK-C9510E and TK-C9511EG camerasJVC Professional has added two new cameras to its popular Super LoLux range; the TK-C9510E and TK-C9511EG. The 1/2” CCD colour surveillance cameras have been designed to ensure precise colour reproduction in low level light situations, perfect for even the most challenging surveillance operations. To achieve crisp, clear images in turbulent weather conditions,

both models feature intelligent image processing and dual shutter with AGC function, actively enhancing the picture quality in changing image conditions.Improvements to the wide dynamic range has been achieved through ExDR ‘Plus’ function, enabling both cameras to clearly dis-play objects in the foreground, even when they’re up against an extremely bright background. The TK-C9510E and TK-C9511EG feature eight fully programmable preset scene modes for quick and easy installation, plus both cameras can be controlled remotely via RS-485 and also accommodate multi-protocol support of not only JVC protocol but Pelco-D and Pelco-P.Tel. +44 (0)20 8208 6205 • www.jvcpro.co.uk

Nedap AVI to present new UHF reader at Sicurezza 2010Nedap AVI, leading specialists in vehicle identifi cation, detection and management solutions, will display the latest addition to its long range vehicle identifi cation product line, the uPASS Reach, at Sicurezza 2010. Using the latest in UHF technology, the new uPASS Reach Reader guarantees long range vehicle identifi cation up to 4 metres. Based on the use of battery free, passive UHF transponders, the reader output allows the access control or parking system to open the gate when authorised without the need for card readers or PIN pads. A built-in, high inten-sity LED provides visual feedback for the user that the tag has been read. With a consistent reader distance up to 4 meters (12 ft). the new uPASS system is a viable, comfortable and cost-effective solution for commercial and residential parking installations such as car parks, gated communities, employee parking access and many more applications. Tel. +39-011-026-8300 • www.nedapavi.com

Axis introduces fi rst fi xed dome network cameras with 3 megapixel and P-Iris controlAxis Communications announces AXIS P3346 Fixed Dome Network Cameras to complement the successful AXIS P33 Series. AXIS P3346 is easily installed thanks to remote zoom and focus and offers P-Iris control, HDTV 1080p and three megapixel resolution. AXIS P33 Network Cameras, designed for effi cient installation in both indoor and harsh outdoor environments, constitute the best choice for a wide range of demanding video applications. “AXIS P3346 is the fi rst fi xed dome on the market with P-Iris, which ensures superb image quality,” says Erik

Frännlid, Director of Product Management. The new fi xed domes can deliver 3 megapixel resolutions at 20fps, as well as wide screen HDTV 1080p video at 30fps, with great clarity and sharpness. The P-Iris control allows the camera to optimize the iris position for depth of fi eld, lens resolution and incoming light to produce superb image quality with optimum sharpness in all lighting conditions. Tel. 01462 427910 • [email protected]

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Industry NewsBriefCam launches Video Synopsis Viewer for Milestone XProtect Smart ClientBriefCam Ltd, the developer and provider of Video Synopsis™ systems for reviewing, analyzing and in-dexing of video, has launched the BriefCam Embedded Viewer for the Milestone XProtect™ Smart Client. Video Synopsis is BriefCam’s award-winning technology for the rapid review of recorded video, fulfi lling the unmet need to browse video, investigate and identify incidents. Video Synopsis recently received the Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Award 2010 for Physical Security. At IFSEC 2010, it received the Security Industry Award for Best CCTV System Product (excluding cameras or lenses) and is a Security Excellence Award nominee. BriefCam was also named to Red Herring’s Top 100 Europe and CNBC Europe’s Most Creative Companies lists for 2010. The BriefCam Embedded Viewer for the Milestone XProtect Smart Client user interface is a fully embedded plug-in that allows users to see a summary of video footage from any camera processed by the BriefCam server.Tel. +972-2-533-7228 • www.briefcam.com

Avigilon launches Control Center 4.6Avigilon recently introduced Avigilon Control Center 4.6 Network Video Management Software (NVMS) with High Defi ni-tion Stream Management™ (HDSM,) delivering new features to improve the performance, extensibility, and manageability of HD surveillance systems as well as open systems integration and is available in two editions. The most powerful, open HD surveillance platform available, Avigilon Control Center Enter-

prise Edition seamlessly integrates with other security systems and handles transmission, recording, and storage of HD video gathered by hundreds of cameras across multiple sites. A cost-effective solution to meet vital and focused security needs, Avigilon Control Center Standard Edition delivers the same powerful HD surveillance engine and supports ONVIF, 3rd party IP cameras, and Avigilon HD, HD H.264, HD Panoramic cameras. Avigilon also introduced a line of Avigilon HD H.264 1 MP and 2 MP IP cameras, which deliver meg-apixel and HD performance to customers who want to capture high quality surveillance footage while minimizing bandwidth and storage requirements. Tel. +1-604-629-5182 • www.avigilon.com

Samsung introduces black casing option for internal domesSamsung is now offering customers the option of ordering selected internal domes with a black casing. Traditionally Samsung domes have always had an ivory coloured casing, but in response to customer requests the company is pro-viding the choice of a black casing for its existing SCD-3080, SCD-2080, SCD-2030, SCD-2021 and SCD-2010 internal domes, plus the soon to be available SCD-2060E and SCD-2080E domes. “Whilst CCTV is installed to deter as well as detect criminal activity, we appreciate that for many customers aesthetics is very important,” said Peter Ainsworth, Senior Product Manager for Samsung Techwin Europe Ltd. As is the case with all Samsung professional security products, the new black cased internal domes are offered with full support services from Samsung Techwin Europe Ltd, including free system design, free technical support and a full three-year warranty.Tel. +44(0)1932-455308 • www.samsungsecurity.com

Theia launches ultra wide varifocal lens with Linear Optical TechnologyTheia Technologies has announced the expansion of its line of ultra wide angle, no distortion, megapixel lenses with its new varifocal model. The new SL183 offers: No barrel distortion with Theia’s Patented Linear Optical Technology® • Ultra wide 115° to 77° HFOV with its 1.8 - 3mm varifocal range • TrueZoom™ - focus once, and there’s no need to refocus after zooming • Up to 5 megapixel resolution for a crisp image • IR corrected for use with Day/Night cameras • Compact - at 49.5mm fi ts in most mini-domes • CS-mount for 1/3”, 1/2.7” HD, 1/2.5”, and 1/2” imagers • Available in manual and DC autoiris versionTel. 1+(503)570-3296 • www.theiatech.com

I n d u s t r y N e w s | C C T V I m a g e

Mitsubishi Electric launches a new range of IP offeringsMitsubishi Electric, a world leader in the innovative design and manufacture of advanced security solutions has in-troduced a range of IP network cameras that complement Mitsubishi’s range of digital security products, providing optimum surveillance solutions. Built to the highest standards, the new professional network cameras are MPEG-4 and H.264 compatible and come equipped with the latest video analytics, enabling motion-based video recording. Designed for accurate CCTV surveillance, the advanced video analytics function (optional upgrade) is able to alert users of suspicious behaviour by detecting movements including direction, stopping, loitering, entering, exiting, appearing and disap-pearing motions. Easy to install and maintain, the cameras can be connected to the newly developed NVR and encoders and controlled through Mitsubishi’s NetHunter IP software, an essential single server video system, designed to manage IP cameras, NVRs and DVRs.Tel. +44(0)1707-278684 • www.mitsubishielectric.co.uk/vis

Mel Secure Systems introduces new generation ruggedised camera for total protection around the clockMEL Secure Systems, the leading developer of surveillance and se-curity solutions, has launched Domehawk IR Thermal, a ruggedised camera that combines thermal imaging, infra red (IR), colour and mono lenses in a single unit. It is the world’s fi rst camera system to integrate these three technologies using FLIR TAU 320 thermal technology. Domehawk IR Thermal is a continuous rotation, PTZ camera that is fi tted with thermal imaging, IR and Day/Night camera modules. It offers exceptional quality and reliability and it virtually silent in operation with 36:1 optical zoom and a 35mm Germanium lens to deliver high quality thermal pictures with a resolution of 320x240 pixels whilst high performance IR LEDs give night vision at ranges up to 90 metres.

Tel. +44(0)24-7630 6606 • www.melsecuresystems.com

Mayfl ex is now supplying the new Smart-UPS from APCMayfl ex, the cabling infrastructure, networking and physical security solutions distributor, is now supplying the new range of Smart-UPS uninterruptible power supply products from APC. Based on customer feedback, APC has improved its range of Smart-UPS products and has now created more environmen-tally friendly UPS systems, packed full of great new features. A new LCD alpha/numeric display has been added to the prod-ucts, providing detailed and accurate information previously restricted only to software or NMC. The products also have a high effi ciency green mode which saves utility and cooling costs and advanced battery management. Temperature compensated charging extends battery life and advanced algorithms recommend a replacement date. Other features also include fl ash upgradeable fi rmware, new communication ports and easy battery disconnection, making it easy and convenient to disconnect the battery for transport. Tel. 0800-881 5198 • networksales@mayfl ex.com

Eyevis Netpix4800 graphic controller manages large screen displaysNetpix4800 from eyevis is the latest graphic controller in the Netpix family for the management of large screen displays and single projectors. This model allows for multiple connections from analog video, digital video, and graphic sources, and by utilizing Switch Fabric architecture, all sources can be displayed simultaneously on your display wall in full frame rates. Espe-

cially for the decoding of IP video streams, eyevis has developed the NPX-IPD8 decoding solution. The IPD decoder is equipped with two powerful processors that can handle up to 8 streams with a resolution in D1 Quality and 25/30 frames/s. 8 H.264 streams are possible in D1 Quality per IPD. In conjunction with the eyecon Wall Management Software, these components turn your display into a giant desktop on which your video feeds can be clicked and dragged into any confi guration. High-performance, reliability, and user-friend-liness: this is what makes a perfect visual solution from eyevis.Tel. +49 7121 43303-0 • www.eyevis.de

A u t u m n 2 0 1 0

45Issue sponsor

Companies listed are members of the CCTV User Group. Membership indicates a company subscribes to the ideals of the CCTV User Group, and are committed to upholding the highest standards.

Directory of member companies

CBC (Europe) LtdTel. +44(0)20-8732 3300Fax +44(0)20-8202 3387Email: [email protected] is a multi-national company. We manufacture the Computar and Ganz branded CCTV products. The Computar brand is associated with Lenses (optical products) and the Ganz brand with electronic products, cameras, domes, housings, DVR’s, VCR’s, monitors and IP/transmission equipment. Our goal is to be the fi rst choice for CCTV buyers.

CCTV Training.com ltdTel & fax: +44(0)1252 678589Email: [email protected]: www.cctvtraining.comWe now have more to offer than you think! CCTV SIA

Licence training, Managers level 5 Diploma in CCTV management award. Mobile CCTV Hire to assist with your local system or provide CCTV for local events. Advice on CCTV management, refresher training for licence holders and muchmore! Contact us now and see how we can make a difference!

Chris Lewis Fire & SecurityTel. +44 (0)1865-389828Fax +44 (0)1865-782400Email: [email protected]: www.chrislewisfs.co.ukOur CCTV design and installation experience spans single camera systems to full surveillance suites for university campuses and town centres. As an inde-pendent installer, we can advise on the most appropriate technology, legislative requirements, codes of practice and guidelines, as well as providing Level 2 CCTV operator training.

Chroma Vision LtdTel: 01892-832112Fax: 01892-836651Email: [email protected]: www.chroma-vision.co.uk

Chroma Vision Limited provides design, installation and support packages upon all CCTV and control systems, using in-house labour. Our unique approach to Account Management allows us to provide a high level service without the high price tag.

ClearView CommunicationsTel. +44 (0)1245 214104Fax +44 (0)1245 214101Email: [email protected]: www.clearview-communications.comDesign, manufacture, install and service integrated CCTV and security sys-tems for Police, Local Authority and Commercial clients. Expertise in Digital CCTV recording, wired and wireless IP systems, re-deployable GSM, 3G and intelligent video, integrated security management systems, control room design and forensic analogue and digital CCTV demultiplexing.

COE Group Plc Tel. 0113 230 8801 Fax 0113 279 9229E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.coe.co.ukCOE is an industry leader in video surveillance, transmission and man-agement, offering a comprehensive range of products and design serv-ices to suit projects of any scope; from small-scale systems, to 10,000+ camera networks. Featuring the highest quality fi bre optic transmis-sion range, video servers, industry leading video analysis software and management solutions, COE equipment is featured at some of the most high-profi le, complex and security conscious sites in the world.

802 GlobalTel. +44(0)118 940 7240Fax +44(0)118 981 1214Email: [email protected]: www.802global.com802 Global are wireless products specialists delivering a full range of wireless CCTV solutions including backhaul links, re-deployable cameras and networked storage and control room systems. Working with CCTV integrators, we have an enviable track record of delivering wireless IP CCTV solutions resulting in signifi -cant cost and effi ciency savings for public and private sector organisations.

Altron Communications Equipment LtdTel. 01269 831 431Fax 01269 854 348E-mail: [email protected]: www.altron.co.ukAltron are the leading manufacturer of Poles, Towers, Columns and Bracketry for the CCTV industry. Backed by the very latest technology in design and manufacturing

facilities Altron are ideally placed to meet all your camera mounting requirements.

ANPR InternationalTel. +44 (0)8706-206206Fax +44 (0)8706-205205Email: [email protected]: www.anpr-international

ANPR International is a company driven to provide innovative, reliable and cost effective automatic number recognition (ANPR) technology solutions for a cross section of applications including parking management and enforce-ment, security, access control, average speed surveys and traffi c monitoring.

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Bosch Security SystemsTel. +44 (0)1895-878 088Fax +44 (0)1895-878 089Web: www.boschsecurity.co.ukEmail: [email protected]

Bosch Security Systems offers a complete line of CCTV products including videa cameras, autodomes, monitors, digital recorders and IP video systems.

Broadland Guarding ServicesTel. +44(0)1603 484 884Fax. + 44(0)1603 484 969Email: [email protected]: www.broadlandguards.comCCTV CONTROL ROOM MANAGEMENT: Broadland

Guarding Services are a long established provider of CCTV Control Room Management and Monitoring Services carried out by vetted, trained, licensed and uniformed Personnel. Working in Partnership Towards a Secure Future.

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46Issue sponsor

Cognetix LimitedTel. +44(0)8707-442994 Fax +44(0)8707-442995Email: [email protected] Web: www.cognetix.co.ukA hands-on technical consultancy specialising in traffi c

enforcement and community safety systems. Cognetix offers a holistic approach including initial assessment, system design and specifi cation, procurement (EU), Prince2 project management including business process management, contract administration and managed maintenance. Active in the CCTV User Group, Cognetix are informed of the latest developments and have an in-depth understanding of legislation.

Computer Recognition Systems LtdTel. +44(0)118 979 2077 Fax. +44(0)118 977 [email protected] www.crs-vision.comCRS is the world’s leading supplier of automatic numberplate reading (ANPR) systems. We invented the technology in 1979. CRS now supplies ANPR systems for a wide range of applications including high security access control, free fl ow surveillance, car park management, speed measurement, journey time meas-urement, bus lane monitoring and traffi c data collection.

Dallmeier electronic UK Tel. +44(0)117-303 9303Fax +44(0)117-303 9302Web: www.dallmeier-electronic.com

Dallmeier is a leading developer and manufacturer of digital CCTV solutions with a complete offering that includes IP and analogue domes and cameras, digital video recorders and streamers, system management software, ANPR solutions and advanced image analysis systems. Dallmeier is highly regarded for its dedication to innovation, quality and customer service.

DataCom Interactive LtdTel. +44(0)1325-243823 Fax +44(0)1325-359333Web: www.datacominteractive.co.ukEmail: [email protected]

We provide Security Industry Authority licence to practice training for CCTV operators and security guards plus other accredited courses. Visit our website or call us for details.

Dedicated Micros LtdTel. +44(0)845 600 9500 Web: www.dedicatedmicros.comFax. +44(0)845 600 9504 Email: [email protected] for 20 years, Dedicated Micros is an international market leader in the fi eld of specialist CCTV control equipment. The company is renowned for the design and manufacture of robust, dedicated, multiplex hardware designed to meet the demands of continuous 24-hour security surveillance.

DSSL GroupTel. +44(0)1268-590787 Web: www.dssl.co.ukEmail: [email protected]

Direct Surveillance Solutions Ltd (DSSL) formed in 1997 now incorporating CVSS Ltd. Both highly engineering oriented companies. The group has considerable expertise in wireless and hard wired CCTV solutions, access control and perimeter protection gained in public and private sectors delivering a variety of complimentary and integrated technologies.

ESSA TechnologyTel - 01752 848094Fax - 01752 840780Web - www.essa.co.ukEmail - [email protected]

Essa is a leading supplier of touchscreen computer control and ANPR systems. We provide in-house software development specializing in high level integration projects for CCTV and ANPR systems.

GenetecTel. +33 (0)1 44 69 59 00 Email: [email protected]: www.genetec.comGenetec is a pioneer in the physical security and public safety industry and a global provider of world-class IP video surveillance, access control and license plate recognition (LPR) solutions. With sales offi ces and partnerships around the world, Genetec caters to markets such as transportation, education, retail, gaming, government and more.

Global MSC SecurityTel. +44 (0)117 932 3394Fax +44 (0)117 9328911Email: [email protected] www.globalmsc.netIndependent, multi-disciplined security and CCTV consultants de-livering best value solutions. From conducting performance audits of cost/benefi t of existing systems or costed feasability studies of potential schemes, through to the expertise in the design, specifi ca-tion and project management of CCTV, access control, transmission and the seamless integration of such systems in all environments.

Gresham Wood Technical Furniture & Design Tel. 01279 813132Fax 01279 814627Email: [email protected]: www.greshamwood.comGresham Wood have over 30 years experience designing,

manufacturing and installing CCTV security control rooms. We provide a free initial on-site survey for your project. This is then backed up by a full 2-D / 3-D design presentation detailing the control room layout inclusive of all ergonomic, H & S and DDA requirements.

Guide Security Services LtdTel. +44 (0)845 058 0011Fax +44 (0)845 058 0018Email: [email protected]

Founded in 1996 on the principles of service excellence, Guide Security Services Ltd (GSS) are a leading integrated security and remote CCTV monitoring solutions provider. Using an amalgam of IT and security technologies, GSS specialise in the design, installation, maintenance and monitoring of hybrid and IP based security and video surveillance solutions within a range of end user market sectors.

Instrom LtdTel: +44 (0)1908 210288Fax: +44 (0)1908 210277E-mail: [email protected]: www.instrom.comInstrom are independent security consultants providing professional, impartial security advice and consultancy services. Instrom works with a wide range of organisations to help protect their people, property and profi ts. Core services include: • Risk assessments and security audits • Security sys-tem design • Project management • Documentation of systems and procedures.

D i r e c t o r y | C C T V I m a g e

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Meyertech LtdTel. +44(0)161-628 8406Fax +44(0)161-628 9811Web: www.meyertech.co.ukEmail: [email protected]

Meyertech is the leading British manufacturer of Digital-IP, Hybrid and Analogue CCTV Command & Control Systems. Meyertech’s ZoneVu® Integrated Hardware and FUSION™ Management Software provide proven integrated security solutions to Public Space, Prison, Stadia & Events, Homeland Security, Emergency Service, Airports & Ports, and Transport Infrastructure markets.

MFD International LtdTel. +44(0)1794-516171Fax +44(0)1794-524460Web: www.mfdgroup.co.ukEmail: [email protected]

Established in 1975, MFD provides independent security advice and multidisci-plined technical expertise in CCTV surveillance schemes and control rooms, blast resistant structures and physical counter-terrorist measures. MFD has com-pleted over 80 town/community CCTV schemes and offers electrical/electronic, civil/structural, architectural and mechanical services’ engineering expertise.

Mocam LimitedTel. 08009557100Web: www.mocam.co.ukThe Mocam Apache Redeployable CCTV System (RCCTV) incorporates the very latest cellular and wireless technology to provide cost effective, quick installation and redeployment of external CCTV. The Apache uses Wi Fi or 3G(HSDPA/HSUPA) mobile networks communication technology. Mocam also have a range of redeployable mobile equipment for transportation and fi xed asset surveillance incorporating wireless networks.

OpenViewTel. 0845-071 9110Fax 0845-071 9111Email: [email protected] Web: www. openviewgroup.comOperating throughout mainland UK, OpenView Group is a leading systemIntegrator of convergent technology solutions. We specialise in designing, installing and maintaining CCTV and integrated command and control centres.

CONVERGENT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS

Panasonic System Solutions EuropeWeb: www.pss.panasonic.euEmail: [email protected]

Panasonic manufactures a wide range of CCTV products including static and dome cameras, digital recording and matrix systems, iris recognition access control cameras as well as a vast array of IP network equipment. The range extends to provide a full system or solution, with pre and post-sales support starting from the initial specifi cation all the way through to commissioning and maintaining the system.

RaytecTel. +44(0)1670-520055 Fax +44 (0)1670-819760Email: [email protected] www.rayteccctv.com

RAYTEC are leaders in CCTV lighting technologies and provide a complete range of Infra-Red and Hybrid-Illuminators for CCTV professionals. Technologies include RAYMAX Infra-Red and RAYLUX White-Light LED products plus specialist lighting products including Voyager 2 advanced number plate capture cameras.

Intech FurnitureTel. +44(0)161-477 1919Fax +44(0)161-480 7447Email: [email protected]: www.intechfurniture.comEstablished in 1978, Intech specialise in the design, manufacture and installation of control room furniture. Intech can also completely transform control centres by offering a full fi t-out package. With a bespoke design service, focusing on quality and customer service, Intech is the smarter solution for your control room.

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JVC Professional Europe LtdTel. +44(0)20-8208 6205 (sales office)Fax +44(0)20-8208 6260Email: [email protected] Web: www.jvcpro.co.ukJVC Professional Europe Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Victor Company of Japan, one of the world’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of a wide range of sophisticated high quality professional broadcast, recording, playback and presentation equipment, along with computer imaging, internet communica-tions, data storage solutions and CCTV.

Lambert & AssociatesTel. +44 (0)1276 38709Fax +44 (0)870 762 3119Email: [email protected]: www.lambert-associates.co.ukProviding versatile and impartial technical and commercial expertise for CCTV and security facilities. As dyed-in-the-wool ‘techies’ we specialize in seeing through the industry’s smoke & mirrors on your behalf. Designs, specifi cations, project management, testing, commissioning, faults, expert reports and training. We’re ‘geeks’ who speak your language too.

Mayfl exTel. 0800-881 5199 Fax +44(0)121-326 1537Web: www.mayflex.com Email: [email protected] ex supports and services markets for IP communication solutions, cover-ing cabling infrastructure, networking and physical security products. Partner-ing only with those that add real value and bring something new and innovative to product use or functionality, the company prides itself on service excellence and provides fl exible ordering and tracking facilities, a dedicated demonstration suite and knowledgeable sales, projects and technical support teams.

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Make sure they can find you

The CCTV Image directory is: the essential reference guide • outstanding value for money • a key tool for end-users, purchasers and consultants • just £425+VAT for a full year* Offer open exclusively to CCTV User Group member companies

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Products & Services DirectoryATTENTION CCTV USER GROUP MEMBER COMPANIES (members only)

You can upgrade your entry in the Directory of Member Companies for as little as £425 + VAT. That covers six issues and includes your telephone, fax, website and e-mail address plus 25 words of text.

Contact us for further information: Call Jack Lunn – Tel. 01543-250456 or e-mail [email protected]

Yes, please include us in the directory (6 issues) at a cost of £425 + VAT.

Company ____________________________________________ Telephone ____________________________________________ Fax ____________________________________________ E-mail ____________________________________________ Web ____________________________________________

25 words text: _______________________________________________________________________

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OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE CCTV USER GROUP


BT Redcare Tel. +44(0)800-673221 Web: www.redcare.bt.com Email: [email protected] We are a leading global supplier of a range of high quality end to end solutions – delivering CCTV transmission, video storage, cameras, telemetry, network, access control, fi re and intruder alarm monitoring and other bespoke applications.

Redvers Hocken AssociatesTel. +44(0)121-777 2474Web www.rha-security.comEmail [email protected]

Consultants for Security and Electronic Systems. Totally independent of all product suppliers and installers. Feasibility Studies, Audits, Surveys, Designs, Project Management and Commissioning, CCTV, Communications, Alarms, Control Room Design, Security Evaluation.

RemployTel. +44(0)845-1460502Web: www.remploycctv.co.ukEmail: [email protected] offers a complete package of CCTV Control Room management and staff solutions. Remploy’s emphasis is on quality and customer satisfaction whilst helping clients to achieve Corporate Social Responsibility objectives. Remploy has managed CCTV control rooms across the UK for over 15 years. Services include Interim Operator Contracts, CCTV Control Room Management and Staffi ng, and Operator Training.

Samsung TechwinTel. +44(0)1932-455308 Email: [email protected]

At Samsung we believe we can save you money and at the same time offer you better quality than your existing supplier with our range of professional security products. What’s more, all of our products are backed by a fully comprehensive three-year warranty and a support network that is there when you need it for complete peace of mind. These are just a few of our benefi ts, why not call us to fi nd out the rest?

Stryker Communications LtdTel. 08707-705811Email : [email protected] : www.stryker.uk.comStryker design and supply wireless solutions and specialised equipment for security and surveillance operations. IRIS (Intelligent Remote Information System) is a range of purpose-designed wireless surveillance equipment confi gurable to operate on analogue, COFDM digital, WiFi, wireless IP and 3G/GPRS wireless communications. The range includes solutions for infrastructure-based, re-deployable and unattended CCTV surveillance operations.

Synectics Security NetworksTel. +44(0)114-255 2509Email: [email protected]: www.synx.com

Synectics is one of the leading manufacturers of analogue & digital CCTV control, network integration, and digital recording solutions. The product range includes: Award-winning SynergyPro control software, Virtual Matrix System, e100/e100i H.264 video encoders with optional video analytics, d100 decoder, eDVR and mobile recording systems, EX250 matrices, and ‘PRIVacy’ scene masking.

Tecton LtdTel. +44 2380 695858 Fax +44 2380 695702Web: www.tecton.co.ukEmail: [email protected]

Tecton are British manufactures and designers of CCTV equipment, established for 21 years. Our video multiplexers are in the majority of town centres. Our new Digital Video recorders record video in a straightforward and reliable way. Image quality is better than SVHS. Systems are built up using one unit, or a thousand.

Thinking Space SystemsTel: +44 (0)1794 516633Email: [email protected]: www.thinking-space.comThinking Space manufactures high-quality, bespoke, technical furniture for control room environments. Specialising in modernising control room spaces, Thinking Space offers full fi t out works for refurbishments, relocations and new builds, complete with project management. All on site design consultancy and proposal drawings are available free of charge.

Thinking Space manufactures high-quality, bespoke, technical furniture

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Index of member companiesAUTOMATED SURVEILLANCE & RECOGNITIONANPR International+44(0)8706-206206Clearview Communications Ltd+44(0)1245-214104Computer Recognition Systems+44(0)118-979 2077Tyco Fire & Integrated Solutions (UK) Limitedwww.tycotraffi c.comAppian Technology Ltd+44 (0) 1628 554 750CitySync Ltd+44(0)1707-275169Ipsotek Ltd020-8971 8300Mobile CCTV Ltdwww.silvercontrol.comScyron Ltdwww.scyron.co.uk

CCTV - GENERALChroma Vision Ltdwww.chroma-vision.co.ukDSSL Groupwww.cvssltd.co.ukGenetecwww.genetec.comIntrepid Security Solutions Ltdwww.intrepidsecurity.comMayfl exwww.mayfl ex.com2020 Vision Systems Ltdwww.2020cctv.comAMG Systems Ltdwww.amgsystems.co.ukAxis Communications (UK) Limitedwww.axis.comCCTV Services Ltdwww.cctvservicesltd.comControlware Communicationswww.controlware.comCroma Shawleywww.shawley.comData-Storage/Fortuna Power Systems Ltdwww.data-storage.co.ukDavid Williamson Training & Consultancy Services02891-275930Ecl-ipswww.ecl-ips.comEclipse Research Ltd020-7704-2889Emerson Management Services Ltdwww.emerson.co.ukEnvisage Technology Limitedwww.envisagetechnology.comErnitec UKwww.ernitec.comIVS CCTVwww.ivscctv.co.ukMetham Aviation Design (MAD)www.madcctv.comPerpetuity Research and Consultancy Internationalwww.perpetuitygroup.comTeleste UK Ltdwww.teleste.comTellemachus Ltdwww.tellemachus.co.ukVerint Video Solutions Ltdwww.verint.com

Videotec UKwww.videotec.comWavesightwww.wavesight.com

CCTV - MOBILEANPR International+44(0)8706-206206Mocam Ltd0800-955 7100Stryker Communications Ltdwww.stryker.uk.comWireless CCTV (WCCTV)www.wcctv.comFluidmesh Networkswww.fl uidmesh.comHigh Mast Videowww.highmastvideo.comMEL Secure Systemswww.melsecuresystems.comMobile CCTV Ltdwww.silvercontrol.com

CCTV CAMERASBosch Security Systemswww.bosch.co.ukCBC EUROPE Ltdwww.cbcuk.comDallmeier Electronic UKwww.dallmeier-electronic.comJVC Professional Europe Ltdwww.jvcproeurope.comPanasonic UK Ltdwww.panasonic.co.uk/cctvConway Security Productswww.conway-cctv.co.ukEcl-ipswww.ecl-ips.comForward Vision CCTVwww.fvcctv.co.ukMark Mercer Electronics+44(0)1422-832636Pelco UKwww.pelco.com

CCTV CONTROL HARDWAREBosch Security Systemswww.bosch.co.ukCOE Ltdwww.coe.co.ukGresham Wood Technical Furniture & Design Ltdwww.greshamwood.comIntech Furniturewww.intechfurniture.comMeyertech Ltdwww.meyertech.co.ukThinking Space Systems Ltdwww.thinking-space.comWinstedwww.winsted.comConway Security Productswww.conway-cctv.co.ukMetham Aviation Design (MAD)www.madcctv.comTelindus Ltdwww.telindus.co.ukVideotec UKwww.videotec.com

CCTV CONTROL SOFTWAREComputer Recognition Systems+44(0)118-979 2077Essa Technologywww.essa.co.ukGenetecwww.genetec.comMeyertech Ltdwww.meyertech.co.ukSynectic Systems Groupwww.synx.comBold Communications Ltdwww.boldcommunications.co.ukCNL (Computer Network Ltd)www.cnluk.comControlware Communicationswww.controlware.comi-Complywww.i-comply.co.ukScyron Ltdwww.scyron.co.ukTraffi c Support Ltdwww.traffi csupport.co.ukVisimetricswww.visimetrics.com

CCTV LENSESCBC EUROPE Ltdwww.cbcuk.comPentaxwww.pentax.co.uk

CCTV SYSTEMS - SUPPLY, INSTALL, MAINTAINChris Lewis Fire & Securitywww.chrislewisfs.co.ukChroma Vision Ltdwww.chroma-vision.co.ukClearview Communications Ltd+44(0)1245-214104DSSL Groupwww.cvssltd.co.ukGuide Security Services (GSS)www.guidesecurity.co.ukIntrepid Security Solutions Ltdwww.intrepidsecurity.comOpenView Group0845-071 9110Tyco Fire & Integrated Solutions (UK) Limitedwww.tycotraffi c.comAccess Communication Services Ltd+44(0)1474-834834Atec Securitywww.atec-security.co.ukCartel Security Systems Plcwww.openviewgroup.comCCTV Services Ltdwww.cctvservicesltd.comCDS Systems Ltdwww.cdssystems.co.ukCentral Security Systems Ltdwww.centralsecuritysystems.co.ukEcl-ipswww.ecl-ips.comIC2 CCTV & Security Specialists UK Ltdwww.ic2cctv.com

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C C T V I m a g e | D i r e c t o r y

CCTV - GENERAL

TVS CCTV LtdTel. +44 (0) 870-919 4880Email: [email protected] Web: www.tvs-cctv.comTVS CCTV Ltd specialise in the manufacture & serial numbering of specialist CCTV CDR/DVD discs & video tapes, suitable for evidence capture & evidence presentation to the relevant authorities from digital CCTV systems. TVS also supply a range of associated CCTV products suitable for all CCTV systems.

16th YEAR IN CCTV DATA COMPLIANCE

www . t v s - c c t v . c om

Tyco Integrated SystemsTel. +44(0)1954-784000 Fax +44(0)1954-784010Email: [email protected] www.tycois.co.ukTyco Integrated Systems is a leading integrator in digital & analogue CCTV surveillance systems for motorways, tunnels, UTC and city centres. We specialise in control systems, UTMC, wireless CCTV, (including 3G/GSM rapid deployment units), bus lane enforcement, road user charging, incident detection and ANPR technologies.

Wavestore LtdTel. +44 (0)208-756 5480Email: [email protected]: www.wavestore.com

Wavestore is a UK company and expert designer and manufacturer of Linux based audio and video recording solutions, which are scalable, upgradeable and easy to use. The Open Platform, hybrid design enables combinations of analogue, IP and megapixel cameras to be recorded and monitored concurrently.

Wireless CCTVTel. +44 (0)1706 631166Fax +44 (0)1706 631122Email: [email protected]: www.wcctv.co.ukWireless CCTV Ltd is an international, market-leading innovator in overt, covert and body-worn mobile surveillance solutions, and has been presented with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Innovation 2009. The company’s client base incorporates 350 UK Local Authorities, over 35 UK Police forces, the Highways Agency and leading construction industry companies.

WECTel. +44(0)1254-700200Fax +44(0)1254-873637Email: [email protected] • Web: www.wec.uk.netWEC Camera Mounting Solutions are experts in the design, production and manufacture of CCTV mounting structures: towers, columns, poles, cabinets, brackets and accessories. We offer a bespoke service to help customers over-come diffi cult mounting situations. Coupled with a highly skilled engineering back ground and using the latest in fabrication and assembly technology, we’re the number one, unrivalled market leader in the CCTV camera systems industry.

Winsted LtdTel. +44(0)1905-770276Fax +44(0)1905-779791Email: [email protected]: www.winsted.comControl room and IP furniture specialist Winsted offers a comprehensive and cost-effective range of consoles, equipment racks, monitor walls and tape storage solutions, with a free 10-year guarantee. Modular consoles allow easy changes and expansion; design services include computerised draw-ings, colour renderings and 3-dimensional ‘walk through’ animations.

COMPANIES HIGHLIGHTED IN RED ARE FEATURED ON PREVIOUS PAGES

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50Issue sponsor


Directory of member companiesIQ Security Ltdwww.iqsecurity.co.ukLink CCTV Systemswww.linkcctv.co.ukOnwatch Plcwww.onwatch.comQuadrant Security Groupwww.qsg.co.ukSWORD Services Ltdwww.swordservices.comTechnology Solutionswww.tecsolutions.co.ukTellemachus Ltdwww.tellemachus.co.ukTouchstone Electronics Ltdwww.t-e-l.co.uk

CCTV TRAININGCCTV Training.Comwww.cctvtraining.comChris Lewis Fire & Securitywww.chrislewisfs.co.ukDataCom Interactive Ltdwww.datacominteractive.co.ukLambert & Associateswww.lambert-associates.co.ukRemploy Limitedwww.remploy.co.ukDavid Williamson Training & Consultancy Services02891-275930Optimum Security Services Ltdwww.optimum.me.ukPerpetuity Research and Consultancy Internationalwww.perpetuitygroup.comTavcom Trainingwww.tavcom.com

COMMUNICATIONS & HELP POINTSComplus Teltronicwww.complusteltronic.co.ukOgier Electronics Ltdwww.ogierelectronics.comTransend (UK) Ltdwww.transenduk.com

COMPLETE SOLUTIONSANPR International+44(0)8706-206206Chris Lewis Fire & Securitywww.chrislewisfs.co.ukCognetix Ltdwww.cognetix.co.ukComputer Recognition Systems+44(0)118-979 2077Guide Security Services (GSS)www.guidesecurity.co.ukLambert & Associateswww.lambert-associates.co.ukOpenView Group0845-071 9110Panasonic UK Ltdwww.panasonic.co.uk/cctvSamsung Techwinwww.samsung.com

TVS CCTV Ltdwww.tvs-cctv.com2020 Vision Systems Ltdwww.2020cctv.comActive CCTV & Security Ltdwww.cctvactive.co.ukBold Communications Ltdwww.boldcommunications.co.ukCCTV Services Ltdwww.cctvservicesltd.comCNL (Computer Network Ltd)www.cnluk.comGE Security UK Ltd+44(0)8707-773048GE-Interlogix UK Ltdwww.geindustrial.comIQ Security Ltdwww.iqsecurity.co.uk

CONFERENCESGlobal MSC Securitywww.globalmsc.net

CONSULTANTSCognetix Ltdwww.cognetix.co.ukGlobal MSC Securitywww.globalmsc.netInstrom Security Consultantswww.instrom.comLambert & Associateswww.lambert-associates.co.ukMFD Internationalwww.mfdinternational.co.ukRedvers Hocken Associateswww.rha-security.comAdvanced Security Partners Ltdwww.asp-limited.comAssociation of Security Consultantssecurityconsultants.org.ukAtkins Telecomswww.atkinsglobal.comCCD Design & Ergonomics Ltdwww.ccd.org.ukCogent Security Solutions Ltd+44(0)1527-595516Comfort Zonewww.comfortzone-cctv.co.ukControl Risks Groupwww.control-risks.comDavid Williamson Training & Consultancy Services02891-275930Davington Centre for Communitywww.community-solutions.co.ukDFT Associates0208 304 6650Dimension Productions Ltdwww.dimension-productions.co.ukEclipse Research Ltd020-7704-2889Independent Communication Solutionswww.icsfi breoptics.com

Jadestream Consultingwww.jadestream.co.ukJMT Systemswww.jmtsystems.comMartin Cole Consultancy Services07974 570 313Morse Security Consultants+44(0)1283-537131NSG Security Consultantswww.nsgsecurity.co.ukOptimum Security Services Ltdwww.optimum.me.ukP.C.D Consulting Limited07809 613 887Perpetuity Research and Consultancy Internationalwww.perpetuitygroup.comSGW Security Consultantswww.sgw-security-consulting.co.ukThe Lyndhurst Consultancywww.cctvwithtlc.co.ukTricker Consultants Ltd01189 694 441

CONTRACT STAFFBroadland Guarding Services Ltdwww.broadlandguards.comRemploy Limitedwww.remploy.co.ukCharter Security plcwww.charter-security.co.ukChubb Security+44(0)1933-671000Legion Group Plcwww.legiongroup.co.ukProfi le Security Serviceswww.profi lesecurity.co.ukThe Corps Monitoring Centrewww.the-corps.co.uk

CONTROL ROOM FURNITUREGresham Wood Technical Furniture & Design Ltdwww.greshamwood.comIntech Furniturewww.intechfurniture.comThinking Space Systems Ltdwww.thinking-space.comWinstedwww.winsted.comCCD Design & Ergonomics Ltdwww.ccd.org.uk

CONTROL ROOM MANAGEMENT SYSTEMSEssa Technologywww.essa.co.ukMeyertech Ltdwww.meyertech.co.ukOpenView Group0845-071 9110TVS CCTV Ltdwww.tvs-cctv.comWavestore Ltd+44(0)20-8756 5480

Bold Communications Ltdwww.boldcommunications.co.ukCCD Design & Ergonomics Ltdwww.ccd.org.ukCNL (Computer Network Ltd)www.cnluk.comComplus Teltronicwww.complusteltronic.co.ukElectrosonic UK+44(0)1322-222211i-Complywww.i-comply.co.uk

DIGITAL & NETWORK VIDEO RECORDING802 Globalwww.802global.comBosch Security Systemswww.bosch.co.ukBT Redcare visionwww.bt.comCBC EUROPE Ltdwww.cbcuk.comCOE Ltdwww.coe.co.ukDallmeier Electronic UKwww.dallmeier-electronic.comDedicated Microswww.dedicatedmicros.comJVC Professional Europe Ltdwww.jvcproeurope.comMayfl exwww.mayfl ex.comPanasonic UK Ltdwww.panasonic.co.uk/cctvSynectic Systems Groupwww.synx.comTectonwww.tecton.co.ukTVS CCTV Ltdwww.tvs-cctv.comTyco Fire & Integrated Solutions (UK) Limitedwww.tycotraffi c.comWavestore Ltd+44(0)20-8756 5480ADPRO (Vision Systems)www.vesda.comIC2 CCTV & Security Specialists UK Ltdwww.ic2cctv.comPelco UKwww.pelco.comSANYO Europe Ltd+44(0)1923-477222SigmaFASTwww.sigmagroup.orgSWORD Services Ltdwww.swordservices.comTAC UK Limitedwww.uk.tac.comVigilant Technology UK Ltdwww.vglnt.co.ukVisimetricswww.visimetrics.com

DISPLAY HARDWARE & SYSTEMSBarco Ltdwww.barco.comJVC Professional Europe Ltdwww.jvcproeurope.comWinstedwww.winsted.comElectrosonic UK+44(0)1322-222211

DISTRIBUTORSTransend (UK) Ltdwww.transenduk.com

IMAGE ANALYSISIntrepid Security Solutions Ltdwww.intrepidsecurity.comDectel Security Ltdwww.dectel.co.uk

LIGHTING & IR ILLUMINATIONRaytec Ltdwww.rayteccctv.comDavid Webster Limitedwww.dwlimited.co.ukDerwent Systems+44(0)1670-730187

MANUFACTURERSGresham Wood Technical Furniture & Design Ltdwww.greshamwood.comIntech Furniturewww.intechfurniture.comSynectic Systems Groupwww.synx.comThinking Space Systems Ltdwww.thinking-space.comConway Security Productswww.conway-cctv.co.ukDerwent Systems+44(0)1670-730187Dimension Productions Ltdwww.dimension-productions.co.ukMark Mercer Electronics+44(0)1422-832636Metham Aviation Design (MAD)www.madcctv.comOptex (Europe) Ltdwww.optex-europe.comVicon Industrieswww.vicon-cctv.comVisimetricswww.visimetrics.com

MONITORING SERVICESGuide Security Services (GSS)www.guidesecurity.co.ukCharter Security plcwww.charter-security.co.ukSefton Security Services+44(0)1519-344747The Corps Monitoring Centrewww.the-corps.co.uk

POLES & CAMERA SUPPORTSAltron Communications+44(0)1269-831431High Mast Videowww.highmastvideo.comWEC Camera Mounting Solutionswww.wec.uk.net

REDEPLOYABLE CAMERAS802 Globalwww.802global.comClearview Communications Ltd+44(0)1245-214104DSSL Groupwww.cvssltd.co.ukGenetecwww.genetec.comMocam Ltd0800-955 7100Stryker Communications Ltdwww.stryker.uk.comWireless CCTV (WCCTV)www.wcctv.comCitySync Ltd+44(0)1707-275169i-Complywww.i-comply.co.ukMobile CCTV Ltdwww.silvercontrol.comPersides Ltdwww.persides.com

REGULATORY COMPLIANCE

VIDEO TRANSMISSION802 Globalwww.802global.comBT Redcare visionwww.bt.comCOE Ltdwww.coe.co.ukDallmeier Electronic UKwww.dallmeier-electronic.comMayfl exwww.mayfl ex.comMocam Ltd0800-955 7100Stryker Communications Ltdwww.stryker.uk.comWavestore Ltd+44(0)20-8756 5480Wireless CCTV (WCCTV)www.wcctv.comBEWnet Communications Ltd+44(0)1293-873235Croma Shawleywww.shawley.comElectrosonic UK+44(0)1322-222211MLL Telecom Ltdwww.mlltelecom.comTeleste UK Ltdwww.teleste.comTransend (UK) Ltdwww.transenduk.comWireless InnovationJeff Martin

COMPLETE SOLUTIONS

CONTROL ROOM MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

CCTV SYSTEMS - SUPPLY, INSTALL, MAINTAIN

CONSULTANTS

COMPANIES HIGHLIGHTED IN RED ARE FEATURED ON PREVIOUS PAGES

MPEG-4 DVRIP Solutions

mitsubishielectric.co.uk/vis | t: +44 (0) 1707 278684 | f: +44 (0) 1707 278541 | e: [email protected]

JPEG 2000 DVR 32" - 65" LCD Display

Combat Crime with Mitsubishi Electric Mitsubishi Electric, a world leader in the innovative design and manufacture of high quality security products, has developed a complete range of technologically advanced IP solutions that complement our existing security offerings. Built to the highest standard our IP cameras feature full frame rates of up to 25fps, are MPEG-4 compatible and come equipped with the latest video analytics enabling motion based video recording. The further enhanced video analytics package, available as an optional upgrade, benefits from people counting functionality and has been designed to detect and alert users of suspicious behaviour, providing reliable 24/7 CCTV surveillance. Easy to install, set up and maintain, our IP cameras are all network ready and supported by our fully functional NVR’s, encoders and the newly developed Nethunter IP software management system that can operate both analogue and digital systems seamlessly.

Mitsubishi’s range of sophisticated MPEG-4 and JPEG 2000 digital security recorders feature built in motion detection, triplex operation, remote and networking functions, whilst our versatile selection of LCD and DLP™ display walls provide crystal clear images. If you are an installer looking for a high quality and reliable security solution look no further than Mitsubishi Electric! Did you know we offer all of our valued installers a range of benefits from accreditations to training and marketing support?

To find out more contact Mitsubishi today on 01707 278684!

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Complete pro-active security overview

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