Practice makes perfect

The Mansfield and Ashfield CCTV Scheme encompasses no less than three town centres, with another three scheduled to go 'online' very soon – as well as nine railway stations, retail outlets and a number of other areas. The scheme provides nothing less than a model of CCTV management for a number of local authorities, based on the attention to detail that has gone into every aspect of its operation. And to think it all started with just 16 cameras...

During 1993 and 1994 there were considerable concerns about the future of Mansfield town centre. These concerns followed the closure of several pits in an area that had relied heavily on coal mining for its employment. Initially, the redundancy payments fuelled a high level of spending in the town, but the retailers soon began to feel the pinch. Crime became a major issue.

Mansfield District Council was the butt of much criticism for a lack of investment in security, so the search for a solution began.

A CCTV scheme – backed up by re-landscaping to ensure good views for the cameras – was the chosen response to the problem.

The Council pledged some of the money, but called for local businesses to contribute as well. In addition, £50,000 worth of funding was received from the Home Office.

The local fund-raising proved highly successful, and no less than £106,000 was drummed up from the local community. Given this commitment, the Council chipped in with the remaining capital and agreed to cover the scheme's running costs.

It was also essential to sell the concept to the wider local community, and to allay any fears people may have concerning privacy issues. Working closely with the police, town centre services and security manager Roy Slater started to sow the seeds of the idea, with support from the newly-created Town Centre Forum. This brought together the District and County Councils, the police, the Chamber of Commerce and retail management teams.

The birth of a CCTV system
The first phase of the Mansfield and Ashfield CCTV Scheme was to provide camera coverage of the town centre streets – using a 'net' principle with overlapping fields of view, while covering all the crime 'hot spots'.

"The aim was to ensure that anyone entering or leaving the town centre has to pass by at least one of the cameras," Slater explains.

There was no history of CCTV in Mansfield, so a new select tender list was prepared and put out to contract. The contract was awarded to Quadrant Video Systems of Nottingham, the Council having decided on a rental option with a strict emphasis on getting the right equipment to do an effective job rather than allowing budgets to decide the specification.

This first phase of the scheme went live in January 1997, with 16 cameras covering Mansfield town centre.

The original six members of the CCTV Control Centre team underwent a week's training with the police, covering observation skills, evidence gathering, communications, terrorism and an introduction to the relevant legislation. On returning to the Control Centre on the Friday evening, they flipped a coin to see who was going to stay all night.

By the Saturday lunchtime the first shoplifter had been caught with the help of the cameras. The Control Centre has been operating round-the-clock, seven days per week ever since.

Nottinghamshire Police provides the training for the Control Centre team, while also funding the trainers, and there is a continuous exchange arrangement to promote ongoing liaison. Police staff sit and work in the Control Centre to gain an appreciation of the environment, and the working conditions of the operators. These arrangements are reciprocated – a system that Roy Slater feels has yielded significant benefits. "This has led to a much greater understanding between the two teams and, hence, a better service overall," observes Slater.

Extending the surveillance scheme Since those early days the system has grown significantly, but always at a steady rate to ensure that strict control is maintained.

Soon after the launch of the Mansfield town centre scheme, Mansfield District Council was approached by the operators of the local Robin Hood railway line, where car theft in the station car parks was becoming a problem. Manned guarding had proven too expensive, so a plan was formed to cover the car parks with CCTV.

Following a successful appeal for a grant from the Home Office, cameras were installed at the nine stations running from Mansfield Woodhouse to Bulwell on the outskirts of the City of Nottingham.

In 1998, nearby Mansfield Woodham town centre was added to the scheme then, soon after, the multi-storey car parks in Mansfield were fitted with cameras. Car parks were also changed to a 'pay-on-exit' scheme, with cameras at the exit, entrance and in the lifts.

Warsop town centre was the next to join the scheme, and there are plans to introduce further cameras to the town centres at Sutton-in-Ashfield, Kirkby-in-Ashfield and Hucknall – all of which will be monitored from the dedicated Mansfield Control Centre.

In addition, there are a number of other internal and external agencies that come under the monitoring scheme. These include the Millennium Business Park, the Central Bus Station and the hq of the Severn Trent Water Authority (STWA). At the STWA, an ISDN connection links existing cameras to the Mansfield Control Centre, using a special interface to allow the two systems to talk to eachother. During the day, the STWA does its own monitoring and hands over to the Control Centre out of hours. During this time, the cameras are triggered by any unauthorised movement, and there is also regular scanning of the site.

By April this year the system consisted of 148 cameras (due to rise to over 160 by the end of 2001) and four radio systems, with over 200 users in the various shops and two police station links. The cameras are linked to the monitors via a matrix, with the capacity for 256 incoming signals allowing room for expansion. The matrix provides the flexibility for any camera to be viewed by any workstation.

Within the Control Centre itself there are four workstations with space for another two. There are also two workstations external to the Control Centre that can be used for playback purposes. The Control Centre team now consists of one CCTV manager, three senior operators and 19 additional operators.

A Code of Practice for CCTV
During the three years prior to 'going live', a Code of Practice for CCTV operation was developed in consultation with interested parties. This has been privy to several revisions in the light of experience. Regular meetings between all of the CCTV Control Centre staff provide a constant reappraisal of the systems, and a dedicated Mansfield CCTV Trust has been established to ensure that the system is operated in accordance with the Code.

Tape management forms an important part of the Code of Practice, particularly in relation to the continuity of evidence. Each used tape is boxed and sealed with a red master seal, and these are retained for one month. If they're not needed they are then recycled (or degaussed).

If there is a request to view by an officer then a time is agreed, the authorisation form is taken to the control room and the officer witnesses the breaking of the seal. A working copy is made and given a yellow seal and, where necessary, a police copy is made and given a blue seal. In this way, the red master copy is only ever viewed once and both the red and yellow copies are retained in storage.

Live video tapes are kept in a video store in the CCTV Control Centre, while long-term storage of tapes that may be required in court for evidential purposes is provided by a secure, fireproof archive area.

At the time of SMT's visit to the site a barcoding system was being introduced to enhance the tape management function still further. This involves the use of a dedicated PC equipped with a scanner and printer. Each tape and VCR has a bar code so that when tapes are viewed both the tape and the VCR are scanned to retain a record of which tapes have been viewed on which VCR. This information is linked with the identity of the individual operator who viewed the tape, registered via a fingerprint reader on the computer mouse.

From the beginning, the decision was made that Mansfield District Council would retain ownership of the tapes. "The police felt there would be more public confidence in the CCTV system if it were operated by the local authority rather than by them," explains Roy Slater.

Public confidence has also been bolstered by the Council's openness with the scheme. Guided tours of the CCTV Control Centre are given on a regular basis, and there's even a lighting control system that's synchronised with the order of the presentation. Adding a little theatre to the occasion, if you like.

Privacy and the management function
Another issue that had to be addressed from the beginning was that of privacy. "As well as the street scenes, some of the camera views include upstairs premises over and above retail outlets and other concerns," explains Roy Slater. "These vary from private residences to changing rooms for dress shops, so we decided to include privacy zones by blocking out certain areas."

The privacy zones are calculated automatically by tracking the pan and the tilt of the cameras. "This feature helps in compliance with the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) and the Human Rights Act," adds Slater.

As an existing installation the Mansfield CCTV Scheme would have had until 2007 to comply with the terms of the Data Protection Act, but Mansfield District Council decided to involve itself right from the word 'go'. "I don't think it's good for the industry to avoid addressing these issues until the last moment, especially when it comes to local authorities," opines Slater. "At some time or another a member of the public will take a local authority to task over this."

When a search request is received from a member of the public, the CCTV Control Centre officers check the appropriate tapes to see whether that person has been recorded. If they are not found on the tape then a copy of the tape is kept in case there is a complaint to the Data Protection Registrar. When tapes are viewed, third party images are pixellated out before the viewing. While private individuals are given free viewings, insurance companies and solicitors that want to view the tapes have to pay a fee to cover the time of the operator and the use of the viewing machine.

Compliance with the Data Protection Act also requires the operation of an overt system. With this in mind, signs are displayed to warn that a CCTV system is in operation.

The Council's insistence on compliance with regulations in every respect has characterised the operation of the Mansfield system right from the outset. There was a determination that the system would represent best practice.

To this end, the experience gained has been passed on to many other local authorities. Consequently, the Mansfield and Ashfield CCTV Scheme has won the support of the local community, businesses and the police alike. In fact everyone loves it – except for the local criminals, of course.