The college provides a wide range of full, part-time and evening courses from introductory to post-graduate. Subjects include business studies, art, secretarial, tourism and IT. Around 7,500 islanders are currently enrolled with 250 students attending full-time.
Although crime is not a serious problem in the Channel Islands, the College had used a CCTV system for several years. When Senior Technician Rod Tostevin first joined, only the main site had four monochrome interior cameras. Time-stamped analogue images were relayed to a five-inch monitor in the reception area and recorded.
"The image quality was terrible with grainy and blurry pictures. Although the system was there for security, it never helped anyone," said Tostevin.
'Hopeless' images
Regular bicycle thefts, motorbike thefts and car park vandalism simply added to the frustration. Another concern was late night working by female staff in the Library. If anything happened, finding any usable images on ageing analogue videotapes was hopeless. And having reached maximum capacity, extra cameras were impossible.
Tostevin says there was no defining moment that led to demands for an upgrade. The college wanted a reduction in petty and annoying crimes outside with greater personal security inside. Any new surveillance system had to be totally reliable and scalable.
"We wanted to give everyone confidence that a new system was watching out for their interests. While that raised some 'big brother' issues, we only wished to review the images when necessary."
This lack of real-time monitoring meant good recording quality and fast retrieval were essential. Comparisons were then made between analogue systems versus computer and network-based solutions. Tests with digital image recording also showed the wisdom of using the college's networks to help monitor remote sites. Several potential suppliers were then approached.
Computer Network Limited, a supplier of video surveillance, responded quickly and were the most helpful and knowledgeable of the companies contacted, said Tostevin. "They then proposed a cost-effective solution. We just seemed to hit it off with them".
The order for a new digital surveillance system included Milestone Surveillance XXV software, six Axis 2110 network cameras, three Axis 2100 cameras, an Axis 2400 video server for existing analogue cameras and six weatherproof enclosures. Tostevin's installation work in early 2002 proved quick and easy with the reassurance of telephone support. The old cameras were later replaced with four digital models for their superior image quality.
Ten-day archive
New cameras and warning notices are installed in three of four College sites covering areas such as car parks, libraries, entrances, corridors and IT rooms. High quality colour JPEG images from 13 positions are recorded into a ten-day archive on a central server. Staff respond only to viewing requests or incidents, looking at the images through a web browser locally or remotely.
Two recent occurrences have demonstrated the power of the new surveillance system. The college bans food in its student IT rooms so when lecturers noticed an odour of curry, they wanted quick answers. By searching the image database, the reason was found and a student reprimanded. The second incident involved the reported theft of a bicycle.
"There's a camera in a weatherproof enclosure right above the bicycle park. We quickly found some excellent digital images of a young man looking at the bike, checking to see if anybody had noticed him and then riding off," said Tostevin.
Following practical advice from Computer Network Limited, the Police were shown the image database. As each frame is time-stamped, there was no confusion about when the incident took place.
Having successfully displayed the raw evidence, Tostevin created an AVI (audio-video interleaved) file with a playable sequence of digital images of the bicycle theft. He copied the AVI file onto a CD which the police then took away.
Caught in weeks
Thanks to the high quality image, the offender was caught by the police within two weeks.
Taken overall, theft and vandalism have largely disappeared while lecturers claim students are better behaved and late working staff feel safer too. Keeping the system running is simple thanks to the automatic recording, archiving and erasure of old images.
Tostevin says that everything works reliably and is an "obvious deterrent" to crime.
In supporting the move from analogue cameras to digital IP surveillance technology, Computer Network Limited's support had proven "extremely helpful". The experience would now be invaluable in planning a new system for future re-development on a single campus. By balancing the desire for open access with un-intrusive security, the college now had the best of both worlds.
Source
Security Installer
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