Digital CCTV allows the police to respond to incidents as they develop in real time
CCTV festival
Published: 18 January, 2006
Basingstoke’s Festival Place has upgraded its CCTV system, with highly positive results
In UK shopping centre terms the opening of Basingstoke’s Festival Place has to rank as one of the more significant events that has taken place since the turn of the millennium. This is a development that has more or less revived a Hampshire new town that had looked to be on a downward path for a number of years. Yet in spite of the very positive effect it has had on Basingstoke and the visitor’s impression that this is among the country’s most up-to-the minute schemes, there was one aspect that proved to be less than cutting edge.
The in-mall CCTV system was based on a series of VHS recorders relaying activities in the centre to its control room. This might appear to be fine apart from the minor detail, as Festival Place marketing manager Jane Stewart points out, that recording every hour viewed by every camera in the mall meant using 3,000 tapes a week. Bearing in mind that CCTV recordings within a mall are normally kept for four weeks this potentially meant 12,000 video tapes needed to be stored and catalogued.
Stewart also says that just changing tapes in the recorders used up four hours of staff time every week. Something needed to be done.
The decision was taken to upgrade what was in place and the contract to do so was given to London-based CCTV systems integrator G1. This was not a cheap option and as well as monitoring what was happening in the mall, the digital upgrade was expanded to include 12 new external cameras covering the Top of Town area, adjacent to Festival Place.
For G1 this has meant working jointly with the management of Festival Place and Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, providing advice on which would be the most appropriate control room to monitor and manage images from more than 190 static and PTZ cameras installed across the centre.
Following an initial trial period G1 specified a digital recording system that would work with the 24-hours-a-day council system already in place. Stewart comments: “The G1 digital recording system provides a far better quality of footage than videotape.” But there is rather more to it than that. Because the system is digital, access to a specific video clip takes a matter of seconds rather than having to trawl through a library of video tape.
Then there is the added security of a link with the local Netley police control room. Stewart says that the nature of this link is such that live images can be viewed by police responding to a call for assistance from Festival Place. The police are also in a position to keep viewing this information as they make their way to an incident ensuring that any action that is taken is based on actual rather than historical information.
The obvious question therefore is how effective has this been? Stewart says that since the new system was installed in September. “We have recorded more than 100 incidents on DVD and have made 30 arrests.”
Which perhaps bears out the words of Superintendent Paul Netherton of the Basingstoke Police who says: “CCTV works on a number of levels. It prevents crime by functioning as a deterrent. It allows police and security staff to spot incidents before they occur and track and arrest those involved. The difference that CCTV makes in proving a case in court is huge. But most importantly, CCTV makes a real contribution to making people feel safe in the town centre.”
The system upgrade meant investment. The 12 new cameras and the digital upgrade to the 182 CCTV cameras cost £219,000, but it does mean greater personal security for shoppers. Festival Place is a regional shopping centre and a destination for shoppers from smaller towns. To make the trip worth their while, this is one aspect of the mall's good running that could not be overlooked.
CCTV - Digital or Analogue?
Chris Best, director at CCTV systems integrator G1, sees some clear advantages: “We did some financial planning with Brent Cross shopping centre just looking at the cost of (CCTV) ownership over five years. What surprised me is that the cost of ownership is much higher with analogue than digital and it’s much easier to comply with data protection using digital.”
Best concedes that there is however a downside: “Police downloads are an issue. We try not to compress video file size too much because the more you do this, the poorer the image. But this demands bigger storage and faster processing times. There is a balance to be struck. We haven’t actually installed an analogue system for two years."
