Part of Capital Shopping Centres plc, one of the UK's leading shopping centre concerns, the Harlequin Centre in Watford plays host to over 150 retail outlets and in excess of 5,000 dedicated car parking spaces.
With over 17 million visitors passing through each year, it's imperative that both they and their vehicles remain safe and secure. The retailers themselves must also be protected against the constant danger of theft and vandalism.

When the time came to upgrade security provisions across the development, Harlequin Centre operations manager Terry Creedy was looking for a bespoke CCTV solution. One that would cover the retail spaces as well as the three main car parks and four satellite parking areas.

Black and white CCTV was already in place (having been installed when the Centre opened back in 1991), so the priority was for a colour system. Creedy eventually decided upon Sensormatic cameras, which he felt would offer maximum coverage. General, external and car park coverage is achieved through SpeedDome cameras which give 360 degree views at up to 12x magnification.

Within the shopping areas themselves more discreet cameras are used for wider angle coverage. These are supplemented by a number of fixed cameras to cover areas such as pay machines.

The extent of the CCTV set-up doesn't stop there, though. Indeed, it's now part of an overall security programme that has far wider implications for the fight against crime right across the entire town centre. Since individuals may be tracked through the Centre and its car parks, this has helped the Harlequin's security management team play a valuable part in the WRAC (Watford Retailers Against Crime) Initiative, an organisation that works alongside the police in circulating intelligence on known offenders.

Retailers in the Centre, meanwhile, are making use of Electronic Article Surveillance technology to support the CCTV systems. Over 60% of retailers in the Harlequin – including Boots, Next and Virgin – have opted for Sensormatic's 'accousto magnetic' technology to protect goods on display.

In a bid to boost safety and security in the car parking areas, Tom Creedy has worked alongside equipment supplier ASCOM and Sensormatic to develop Help Points throughout, whereby members of the public can speak directly to an operator if they need assistance.

Creedy told SMT: "We're currently working alongside ASCOM with a view to linking-in nearby cameras with the Help Points so that each camera automatically turns to view a given Help Point when it's in use."

The results are certainly impressive. An investment of over £10 million in the car parks alone has seen car crime drop by no less than 87%.

"We now have over 130 cameras monitoring the Centre and its car parks," continued Creedy, "but we intend to improve the security provision still further by extending its functionality and tackling specific problems."

Just recently, the Watford town centre CCTV system was extended at Creedy's behest so that it links with two of the Harlequin's dedicated cameras, thereby extending the town's ongoing fight against retail crime.

Source

SMT