IP - through the eyes of FMs

03 Jan 09

Security is becoming increasingly important for individuals and organisations working in facilities management.

Since its origin, CCTV has proven to be an extremely important tool in the fight against crime. However, increasingly sophisticated criminals and a rise in anti-social behaviour across the UK have highlighted the limitations of traditional CCTV networks in fighting crime, protecting citizens and ensuring staff work in secure environments.

One of the key limitations of CCTV is the amount of cabling associated with a traditional network, which makes the service hard to expand and highly restrictive. If a camera needs to be moved or a new camera needs to be added to the network, a new cable is often required.

Traditional CCTV systems were also designed for point-to-point transmission of video from a camera to a recorder on the same site.

There were numerous disadvantages to this as the tapes needed to be changed and stored, recording needed to be monitored and, as they were stored on magnetic tape, images were susceptible to being damaged or lost.

Key surveillance statistics

According to the ‘Britain After Dark’ study, which was commissioned by ntl:Telewest Business and polled more than 2,000 UK residents, 88 per cent of the population are happy for CCTV to be used to fight crime. Other key findings include:

1. 76 per cent of respondents believed CCTV should be used to find missing people

2. 79 per cent would employ it to prevent shoplifting

3. 70 per cent felt CCTV should be used to track drivers leaving petrol stations without paying

4. Only 30 per cent of the population supported CCTV's use in enforcing the Congestion Charge.

5. 70 per cent were in favour of using it for crowd control

In order to tackle these problems, facilities managers are now turning to IP CCTV, which is another step towards the convergence of data, communications and security onto a single network. As well as the significant cost savings, resulting from simpler maintenance and the ease of centralising control, IP CCTV adds flexibility and increased functionality to CCTV.

What are the advantages for facilities managers?

• Existing networks can be used to record over IP, ensuring that existing investments are protected while benefiting from the new technology. Cameras can be positioned to address specific problem areas and tackle crimes such as fly-tipping, damage to property and violent behaviour.
• Images from local trouble spots can be sent directly to security staff on the ground via mobile phones or PDAs, enabling them to react to incidents more quickly.
• Because IP images are saved onto a hard drive and can be backed-up at an offsite location, there is less risk of footage being damaged. Images can be stored at different resolutions and frame rates to the original video, which reduces the amount of storage space required, and retrieval is fast and efficient. Images are time and date stamped, and can be enhanced in size and quality.
• IP enables security guards to work more effectively. Rather than having a number of security guards patrolling on foot on-site, which can be both expensive and ineffective, a single CCTV operative can carry-out a 'point and click' search from one location and examine footage across various sites, particularly good when companies have offices across the UK. If an incident does occur, the safety of security staff is not compromised.
• For the facilities manager, the ability to search various sites from one location allows them to refocus their staff's time and monitor the efficiency of their organisations' employees.

Interactive applications

The interactive applications that can be run over IP CCTV provide further filters that increase operators' efficiency. Applications such as automatic number plate recognition ensure that IP is a proactive security system, rather than reactive.

Businesses benefit from identifying car number plates quickly and efficiently. Facilities managers can utilise ANPR for security, traffic management, on-site vehicle access and automatic payment systems in car parks.

Similarly, automatic face recognition enables known suspects to be flagged to operators. The application is ten times more effective than the average policeman on the street and private organisations such as supermarkets can also use it to catch known shoplifters.

More organisations need to embrace IP CCTV

Before we see further advances such as mobile CCTV, involving the transmission of video over high-speed GSM, more organisations need to embrace IP CCTV. Facilities managers need to be aware of the benefits of this technology and follow the examples set by organisations in other sectors.

For example, North Lanarkshire Council is one of the first UK local authorities to implement IP CCTV to combat anti-social behaviour. The council's IP CCTV infrastructure, which was part of a £3 million investment, is one of the largest in Europe and the council now has a huge advantage over criminals as the monitoring service covers a far greater area.

By improving its working efficiencies with IP CCTV, North Lanarkshire Council is leading the way for other organisations.

Said Councillor Tom Maginnis, convener of the economic regeneration committee at the council: "At North Lanarkshire Council, the security and safety of citizens is our top priority, so it was crucial we chose the right solution "CCTV is a proven crime deterrent, and implementing an IP solution allows us to expand on this.

“The cost and resource rationalisation is significant for us, the potential applications are vast and the installation will undoubtedly help combat crime in the area."

Get the latest stories first with info4security's newsletters: Click to signup

Post and bookmark this story at the following sites:

What is this?

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit	Google	Newsvine