Isle of Man authority turns to Viseum's multitasking Intelligent Moving Camera

(12/03/2010)

Douglas Borough Council, the leading Isle of Man authority, has turned to Viseum's multitasking Intelligent Moving Camera (IMC) to help protect an important conservation and urban regeneration area at North Quay in Douglas, the island's capital and political centre. Douglas joins a growing number of local councils, police forces and other law enforcement agencies turning to Viseum because of its innovative and effective approach to traditional open space CCTV challenges.

The requirements for the Douglas CCTV installation was an intermittently manned CCTV control room, but with cameras performing as if constantly manned; Viseum's IMC ticked all the boxes as it enhances operator efficiency where operators are present, but can also be effectively used where resources dictate there are no permanent operators.

Four Viseum IMCs are being individually mounted along the quayside, monitored from a central control room, with digital recording capability at both the camera and at the control room.

Council Leader David Christian, Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee, said: "With the regeneration of the North Quay, and the area rapidly becoming a major entertainment and leisure zone for the capital, extending CCTV coverage to the locality has become a priority. The Council fully supports the use of CCTV as it helps protect the public, acts as a deterrent to antisocial behaviour and footage can be used in Court to bring criminals to justice. We have also been encouraged to learn that our partners, the police, have indicated they would be in favour of monitoring the CCTV coverage 'live' at weekends. The latest surveillance technology will be used, where one intelligent moving camera delivers the performance of roughly 20 of the older CCTV units. Additionally, subject to funding being available, the Council's Parks section will be looking at installing a similar system in Noble's Park to reduce incidences of vandalism."

Ian Clague, Borough Engineer and Surveyor, also a lead member of Douglas Community Safety Partnership, said: "The areas we're particularly concerned about are increasing security of our car park, bus stops in the area, access to the marina, and the potential for anti-social behaviour associated with an increasing number of licensed and leisure facilities.

"The Viseum IMC uses proven technology and enables fewer cameras to be deployed, offering better coverage and more effective crime detection and prevention - at a fraction of the cost of traditional systems."

Viseum's managing director, Stuart Thompson, said: "Local authority CCTV schemes are budget and resource driven and CCTV technologies are increasingly being required to do more for the same money. This is where Viseum's multi-tasking CCTV cameras score very highly. Where operators are not an option due to cost, or where their time needs to be spent on specific tasks, the IMC offers an extremely effective and cost-effective solution to the control room environment."

Elsewhere, the Viseum IMC has killed anti-social behaviour problems stone dead. It has immediately had the effect of making criminals realise they were actually being watched, and making the general public realise they were actually being protected - unlike previous technologies which often prove so ineffective criminals all but disregard them.

Most open space PTZ cameras have already exceeded their life expectancy and in any case, through cost and lack of resources, most of these are pointing the wrong way when crimes occur. Viseum presents value for money offering for clients to stay on top of all their camera installations. This is being achieved by replacing or upgrading PTZ cameras to become IMCs, which in turn enables control room staff to spend their time most effectively, maximises overall efficiencies and enables a much more viable solution for CCTV scheme expansion.

Related topics:  CCTV cameras and domes   Monitoring systems   Tagging vandalism and theft prevention 

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