Going underground

Late last year, in a concerted effort to rid LU's car parks of crime, the British Transport Police (BTP) launched Operation Hawkeye. The project (winner of the Best Partnership Initiative category in the 2001 Security Excellence Awards) will see more than 550 CCTV cameras – along with Customer Help Points – installed to monitor all 58 LU car parks come the summer of 2002. BTP is to monitor the car parks from three control centres located at West Ham, Finsbury Park and Wembley Park stations.

BTP first gained funding for Operation Hawkeye back in 1999 (when the Government launched a CCTV initiative to help local crime and disorder partnerships combat theft and vandalism), and has largely come to fruition thanks to a massive public-private partnership involving not only the BTP and LU but also local Councils, individual car park operators and elements of the private security industry.

PC Stephen Anderson – crime reduction officer at BTP – is the main driving force behind Operation Hawkeye. He fully expects the initiative to drastically increase his force's chances of catching vehicle thieves. Speaking exclusively to SMT, Anderson stated: "Although car crime has been on the decrease across LU's car parks, we've never had a very good detection rate to support that theory. Now we can really begin to identify criminals on camera, and pinpoint crime trends."

Integrated security from the outset
All of the cameras currently being installed on a rolling programme are of the fixed variety. "Since the Operation Hawkeye system is a monitored system, every image has to be captured," said Anderson. "PTZ cameras can't cover 100% of each of the car parking spaces, so there's always the chance that something might be missed. We couldn't be seen to encourage a situation where a serious crime occurred and a PTZ camera happened to be facing the other way at the time."

The fixed cameras – along with the rest of the scheme's surveillance systems – are being installed by Tyco Integrated Systems. Tyco was an obvious choice for the BTP, having already installed CCTV systems at 15 mainline train stations throughout the Capital.

Tyco's business group manager, Terry Cox, has been acting as the company's project manager for Operation Hawkeye. He has worked in partnership with BTP since July 2000 to design the scheme's surveillance systems. At each of the three Control Rooms, Tyco has installed PC-based CCTV control and recording facilities which use the company's Cambridge Control System. Cox told SMT: "The Cambridge system is a very powerful one in terms of capacity, and boasts customised software to provide special features. It's also integrated with the bespoke Help Point systems."

In practice, if a member of the public raises the alarm, the system will alert the appropriate BTP Control Room and images from the incident will appear on the monitors. All of the Control Rooms boast PC workstations which are networked to allow CCTV operators to monitor the system by way of a graphical user interface (operators are able to view maps which highlight where security cameras and Help Points are positioned in each car park).

Apparently, there's plenty of scope to develop the system still further. "End users can add various software modules to the system, as well as several different functions," stressed Terry Cox. "If necessary, we'll be able to expand the system to encompass other areas of the London Underground." The ten LU car parks already online are being monitored from the BTP West Ham Control Room, itself boasting an impressive array of surveillance technology. Operators sit at a long CCTV console desk with six built-in monitors. There's also a bank of 15 dedicated monitors set into the back wall.

Using pre-sets, Tyco has configured the monitors and cameras to make it easy for a given operator to track a person walking through any of the car parks. When a subject walks out of view of one camera and into the field of view of the next, the monitor switches to the view from the next camera.

The West Ham Control Room also houses racks of S-VHS video recorders and rows of CCTV video tape draws. At a time when many corporate security and public CCTV managers are replacing their analogue VCRs with digital recording systems, BTP is blatantly sticking with the established order.

"The Home Office was never going to support a grant for digital recording," commented PC Stephen Anderson, "and in any case LU wanted technology that was tried-and-tested". Indeed, the Government is awaiting the results of Police Scientific Development Branch research into the use of digital footage in the criminal justice system before it considers handing over vast sums of money for the new-style recording method.

An Underground approach to guarding
While Tyco has supplied the security systems, SSR Personnel has assumed responsibility for all manned security. Just like Tyco, SSR was already a known quantity so far as the BTP was concerned – the recruitment specialist runs a major part of BTPs' London-wide communications and video monitoring suite.

SSR's role in Operation Hawkeye entails recruiting and managing a 17-strong officer team to monitor the LU car parks from the three dedicated Control Rooms. On appointment, each operator then has to undergo a three-month basic training course. Besides monitoring the car parks themselves, CCTV operators could find themselves having to advise someone calling for help via one of the Help Point intercoms. With this in mind, SSR is striving to recruit officers who are observant, unflappable and able to deal with potentially panic-stricken individuals.

"We're looking for people with experience of working in life-threatening environments. Individuals who can give calm, precise advice," said SSR Personnel's managing director Peter French. "Some of the calls officers receive will be from highly-stressed people, and they'll have to be able to deal with that."

Whereas the three central Control Rooms will be well-staffed, some of the LU station car parks will remain unmanned during certain times of the day. Alongside Central Parking Services and tfm Parking Services, Meteor Parking is managing all parking arrangements (although LU has overall responsibility for the car parks in their entirety). Meteor manages seven LU car parks in all – four along the Central Line and three on the Metropolitan.

The Home Office has awarded Operation Hawkeye no less than £3 million as part of the Government’s drive to reduce car park crime by 30% before 2003. The scheme raises the stakes even higher, though – its aim being a 55% reduction in crime over the same pe

Alex Carnie (Meteor's financial controller) stated that, although the company will meet Operation Hawkeye's running costs, it cannot afford to employ attendants or security officers on a round-the-clock basis. "Quite frankly, 24-hour security in relation to this contract is not cost-effective," stressed Carnie.

As you'd expect, most of the crimes that take place in Meteor's LU station parking areas occur at night. Carnie added: "Of course, if cars are left overnight there's always the possibility of break-ins. Some of the car parks are definitely exposed at night." Organised criminal gangs are often responsible for occasional damage and attempted theft.

Mirroring public perceptions
Carnie is confident that remotely-monitored CCTV will help deter would-be thieves. "We employ CCTV across many of the other car parks that we manage. It has been of great value to the police," he said. "For instance, suspected criminals who were 'checking out' some of our hospital parking areas were arrested by the police, who managed to clear up 20 related crimes as a direct result."

Operating across 33 LU car parks, Central Parking Services also claims that crime has been reduced at some of its other sites – including ThamesLink parking bays – thanks to the use of bespoke CCTV.

Alex Carnie is hopeful that the new CCTV cameras will ensure LU car park users feel much safer at any time of the day or night. "We've had people tell us that they don't like going back to their cars at night, in particular at stations along the Metropolitan Line," èP30 suggested Carnie. "As a result, the public is extremely keen on CCTV."

The London Transport Users' Committee agrees that Operation Hawkeye is likely to make LU car parks safer, but is quick to point out that cameras are no substitute for personnel on the ground. "CCTV is very much second best to the actual physical presence of a security officer," stated Committee director Rufus Barnes. "That said, it's certainly better than having an unsupervised car park. CCTV has shown itself to be an effective deterrent at many transport-related locations, assisting the police in helping to identify people trying to break-in to cars."

For its part, the British Parking Association (BPA) would like to see CCTV and manned security operating in tandem at each and every LU car park. Barry Cowing, head of the Secured Car Parks scheme at the Association, told SMT: "Talk to most professional criminals, and they'll say they can 'dodge' CCTV if they need to," stressed Cowing. "At a retail park there are generally lots of people walking around car parks, but at an LU station it might just be the lone passenger alighting a given train. People, in particular females, will want someone there to reassure them that they're safe. If they see a CCTV camera they will be partially assured, but then start to wonder whether it's working."

Cowing is adamant that a range of security measures are needed to make car parks safe. Not surprisingly, he's more than happy that the three companies in charge of LU's car parks are striving to achieve Secured Car Parks status as part of Operation Hawkeye.

The BPA – which recently took on the running of the Secured Car Parks awards scheme from the Association of Chief Police Officers – has already inspected some of the LU sites, and informed operators what standards will need to be achieved to attain an award.

"There's still a fair bit of work to be done at many of the car parks," added Cowing. CCTV, lighting and perimeter protection systems must all be in order. "Good lighting is essential for aiding CCTV and the officers who are on patrol," said Cowing (see 'All light on the night', SMT, February 2002, pp26-28).

The quest for recognition
As Operation Hawkeye evolves, so its security provisions will be enhanced. For instance, BTP is apparently keen on integrating Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) within the next six months such that vehicles may be easily identified upon entering and exiting any LU car park.

BTP is also considering the use of facial recognition technology to identify known criminals – a technique successfully implemented by CCTV manager Bob Lack in the London Borough of Newham.

"At the moment we're actively trialling facial recognition, but we're not planning to introduce it to Operation Hawkeye immediately," said PC Stephen Anderson.

Just now, the Government seems determined to hold up Operation Hawkeye as a shining example of how public-private sector partnering can make a real difference in the ongoing fight against crime.