CCTVIma g e | Ro oms wi t h a Vi ew
room was located in the basement of the old civic offices where John was an operator. Then it moved to the new council office building, on land which used to be a large industrial area, and John was promoted to CCTV manager. Growth soon followed and the system has
expanded to cover Port Talbot town centre as well as Neath town centre and the Sandfield area, for- merly social housing but now private. In addition, there are several outlying remote cameras. It says a lot about the local authority and man-
agement when staff are promoted from within the organisation and there is very low turnover. In this instance, one operator joined 17 years ago, another 16 years ago, with two others having joined 14 and 12 years ago. Pretty impressive given there are six operators in total. One of John’s initiatives has been to introduce
a structured, formalised training module, and with two new operators joining shortly, there is a full training plan. With 150 cameras and a Synectics Synergy
control system, the back video wall comprised 56 monitors with a central monitor providing images to the Police Command and dispatch centre at Bridgend. Maintenance of the system is carried out by CDS who John has
no hesitation about recommending. The control room is manned continuously throughout the year, with a staff of eight full-time and four part-time controllers working on a “four on four off” shift pattern. In addition to monitoring the cameras, the operators also take
the out-of-hours calls from the call centre, particularly for pest control and traffic issues. It also provides a monitoring service for two schools alarms, a service which they are looking to expand. The control room also provides a lone-worker monitoring
service using a Sentinel system. And the cameras on the council offices site are monitored by reception during the day but by the control room out of hours. In September, 15 evidence discs were recorded for the police,
but overall the system has led to a reduction in the number of inci- dents over the past few years.
John Chapman at Neath and Port Talbot CCTV centre
Bridgend County CCTV Many readers who have attended User Group conferences will know
Jayne Thomas, the manager of the Bridgend County CCTV System. She is a long-standing member of the Group and it was a pleasure to catch up with her and see all the changes since my last visit, about a decade ago, and hear all her thoughts for the future. These ideas centre upon the need for it to become increasingly ‘multi-functional’ to future proof the service. Jayne is very conscious that CCTV is not a statutory duty for coun-
cils so to avoid the risk of further cuts (which have already impacted on system maintenance budgets) and ensure the continuation of this vital service, there is a need to exploit other benefits that can be provided by the control room. Jayne follows the model set by Gordon McLanaghan at Bristol City Council. Bridgend Council’s Overview and Scrutiny committee is sup- portive of this approach, in particular the policy that all income earned by the control room is reinvested in the CCTV system. Located in a former Council depot, the control
room currently has the usual video wall with 33 monitors for the 146 fixed cameras and three of the ever-popular Stryker Polecat cameras. There are four workstations and a Honeywell MAX video manage- ment system and Ultrak digital recording. The building also accommodates a separate review
suite, a manager’s office, breakout area and restrooms. The 12-hour shift rota is filled by eight full-time and two part-time staff, plus casual staff as required. Unusually, the split between male and female staff is 50/50. The performance statistics are impressive, with
five or six police viewings each day. The assistance provided by Jayne and the team has saved the police a considerable amount of investigation time. On one occasion, police apprehended four prolific burglars when the operators saw torches in the bushes, and on another occasion a murderer was apprehended when operators highlighted images of a person throwing what turned out to be the murder weapon - a knife - onto railway property. Jayne and the team have a good working relation- ship with the police. The IP network enables images
Geraint Ellis at the Gwynedd County CCTV control room Issue sponsor
www.securitynewsdesk.com
Wint e r 2013 19
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