Now the inner Manchester district, a designated Regeneration Area, features on a different kind of TV screen and the resulting transformation has been equally dramatic.
Before the CCTV network was installed by Community Security, store break-ins were so common that many stores in the area had closed – and those remaining had to impose access restrictions. Since then, more than £21 million has been invested in the area by a number of businesses – and a good view from one of the cameras is seen as one of the biggest selling-points for commercial property.
The whole area has undergone such a remarkable change that part of the neighbourhood is now being prepared for the construction of the main stadium and many ancillary sites to host the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
This massive sporting and commercial development will live on after the Games under the name of 'Sportcity' as not only the new home to Manchester City Football Club but also The English Sports Institute, which includes athletics facilities, the National Squash Centre, the National Cycling Centre and a range of other sporting facilities for the community and elite athletes.
The development comes amid a Regeneration Programme that will see £90 million of public funding committed to the area over ten years. This figure is also expected to attract further funding from European Structural Funds and the National Lottery. It is also believed it may help to redirect other public agencies' mainstream programmes to the area – perhaps a further £150 million.
Such a transformation will naturally provide a massive boost to the area in social (as well as employment) terms, but those behind the development have no illusions that this could happen without a proper security structure in place from the beginning.
The Ancoats scheme uses 15 VCL eight-inch Microspheres in fixed positions, though there are plans to increase it eventually to 25 as the project itself is still expanding geographically, in joint initiatives with organisations such as British Waterways and East Side Regeneration.
The project is seen by many as an example of what can be achieved – given the right security system – working alongside community-based regeneration projects – which was recognised recently when Home Secretary Jack Straw visited the area to view the project. He was able to see first hand how leading-edge technology and ingenious application were helping the police.
Tony Nuttall, managing director of Community Security, said: "The success of such a CCTV scheme is usually measured by the increase in arrest rate for the area. But arrests drop after the initial increase and, what is more, stay lower. This is perhaps a truer and indeed better indication of the scheme's success, though less quantifiable; perhaps relating to increased community pride and involvement as much as the CCTV surveillance at its core."
20 minute success story
In the neighbouring Beswick district, another system by Community Security is a contender for a speed record – it spotted its first offender within 20 minutes of being switched on.
Tony Nuttall explained: "For some time, the police thought the under-age drinking problem in the area was due to local shops selling alcohol directly to children. But no sooner had we started up the system than we discovered that the source of the problem was a very different one. Someone of legal age was acting as a go-between and buying the alcohol for the children. Once we had correctly identified the problem, it was a very simple step to eliminate it." The two districts may have many similar problems but it is the contrast between the two solutions that makes the comparison especially interesting. Beswick is not only based on a completely mobile system but it has also proved an ideal test ground for Eagleye, a mobile camera/monitoring system that Community Security itself designed and is now producing for sale to outside bodies, including the police.
The system in Beswick – using Eagleye in conjunction with other technology – enables 150 camera locations over this very large area, most linked to a central monitoring station, to be covered completely by 11 VCL Microsphere cameras. This not only creates phenomenal cost savings, as well as not letting the offenders become complacent about camera locations, but the resulting system is significantly less obtrusive, reducing any "bad area" stigmatising which upsets locals and investors alike.
Such a system might have been more difficult without the "plug & play" philosophy that runs through VCL's Microsphere range, simply unplugging the units as you would change a light-bulb, as they have a simple bayonet fitting. This concept allows any one of the cameras to be up and running in a new location less than an hour after being taken from its original site. The system uses ISDN, WAP, WAN, LAN, PSTN, GSM, microwave or any other common network, transmitting video to a central monitoring station.
Community Security claims to be the most successful community-based company in the UK today. Founded in 1990 by Tony Nuttall, it was born out of City Challenge, the Government initiative launched to upgrade and improve conditions in council housing stock. It began by providing manned guarding around Manchester's troubled inner-city areas such as Moss Side and Colleyhurst, before moving into alarms in 1993 and launching its own alarm monitoring station a year later. By 1995 it had gained ISO9002 – the first community-based company to achieve this.
Its biggest single step forward came in 1999 when it established its combined audio alarm and CCTV control centre, from which it supported around 2,000 alarm contracts and 200 CCTV contracts. The centre is now also used for police training and has a separate police viewing room.
The company gives credit to VCL for working in partnership in the design and construction of the centre, which now employs a management team of six, 92 guards, six CCTV engineers, two control room managers, nine CCTV operators and two research and development engineers.These engineers are predominantly engaged in working on bespoke systems with the police Community Security is a SITO and NVQ approved site for manned guarding, control room operatives and mobile systems. It also works closely with local authorities, housing associations and landlords on Neighbourhood Nuisance projects, acting as a Government advisor for the North West.
As might be expected of such work, often carried out in partnership with local authorities and regeneration agencies, the company attracts significant EC funding for many of the projects it undertakes. The company is run on a completely non-profit basis, putting all its revenue back into growth or returning it to community functions.
Community Security is also combining its experience in manned guarding and CCTV to work within the new "Lone Worker" regulations. This involves using CCTV to watch out for its own guards to safeguard them in solo working situations.
Watch the birdie
It may be a far cry for the inner-city Manchester streets it was designed to watch but the Eagleye system has even attracted interest from the proprietors of Spanish golf courses.
"The cameras are completely self-contained, need no external power source and can be attached to almost any surface in a few seconds," said Community Security sales director Dave Jones.
"That makes it as much at home out in the open country as it is in a housing estate. It would suit a whole range of applications that are very different from the conventional view of security. It is also very easy to operate by anyone with no training and after only the briefest look over the controls." Eagleye is a rapid deployment system that can work completely independently of any fixed control centre or power supply – for cameras or the control unit. The self-contained unit is built into a compact flight case with a separate case for its 11-hour battery pack. It can work with four Microsphere camera inputs including full telemetry control on the same RDT radio system that it uses to receive the signal.
Early models allow only one camera to be viewed at a time but this is one of the design issues that the unit's designer, R&D manager Andy Hawksworth, says are now being reviewed. The Eagleye does however include a second screen, courtesy of a Hi-8 video recorder/playback unit, allowing playback facility without interrupting live monitoring. Completing the unit are a radio modem and a VCL control panel including joystick. Each camera can be mounted or demounted in moments, making it extremely discreet in use.
Source
Security Installer
