Newport City Council scooped the 'Security Client of the Year' trophy at the 2002 Security Excellence Awards for its successful partnership with the private sector that uses bespoke IP surveillance techniques to cut down on vandalism in schools. We evaluate a ground-breaking project.
The tragic events of September 11 2001 – and, more recently, the atrocities in Bali – didn't awaken the world to the importance of security for the very first time. What they did do is intensify all of our efforts towards achieving greater security where we live, work and play.

Alongside biometric technologies (including facial and iris recognition), CCTV surveillance techniques have received considerable attention of late in terms of what the technology can do to help end users manage their secure environments more effectively.

CCTVs' rapid growth in popularity has mainly arisen due to the convergence of computers with surveillance, the growth of digital video recorder production (and quality) and the spread of video distributed over the Internet. These technological developments have also heightened interest in (and the demand for) a new form of surveillance in which users may remotely monitor people and property as well as industrial processes.

The new Internet Protocol (IP) surveillance technology creates digitised video streams that, when transferred via a computer network, enable remote monitoring to take place from a location as far away as either the network or the Internet allows.

According to analyst Frost and Sullivan, the network camera and video server markets will continue to grow at around 90% per annum through 2005, thus representing one of the most exciting and important prospects ever faced by the security systems sector.

While most companies are now aware of the benefits that digital surveillance technology has to offer, they also believe it isn't financially viable to replace perfectly good analogue cameras with newer digital ones. IP surveillance enables users to take the strategic step forward, developing a more open digital surveillance system by providing solutions for converting analogue images into an easily-distributed digital format. And that at a manageable level of investment.

It has to be said, too, that the choice between high resolution digital images that can be viewed and stored anywhere in the world over a computer network as opposed to low resolution images with restricted viewing access and volatile storage media that deteriorates with age is no choice at all.

Network convergence and CCTV
On top of the increased demand for "security", there are a number of other equally compelling drivers fuelling the adoption of IP surveillance systems. For one, there's network convergence. CCTV, computers and other functions (such as fire alarms, access control and the increasingly important biometric functions) are clearly converging toward a common IP network that can offer integrated services. Indeed, telephone networks are already using IP networks.

Combine the technical state of the security and industrial markets with the growing need for improvement in communications and competitiveness and there's little doubt that IP surveillance technology offers very persuasive benefits (while also providing strong foundations for future use and improvements).

Let's not forget the Internet and IP networking. Virtually all businesses, schools and industries now have a high speed, IP-based computer network connected to the Internet. More and more retail outlets and homes are being connected via DSL. Banks also use the Internet for money transactions, thereby providing a tacit endorsement to IP surveillance as a safe and reliable technology.

In addition, non-security – or 'beyond security' – applications can benefit tremendously from the power of remote monitoring because this not only saves time and money, but also improves processes. Digital information and imagery stored on hard disk makes searching and retrieval far easier and much faster, while associated maintenance costs are minimised.

Performance advantages are key
If those market and technology drivers are not enough to convince you, IP surveillance systems' many performance advantages combined with substantial cost savers make for an even stronger case.

While such systems can function independently, they can also work with any existing analogue system. The system may be configured to receive the same video and alarm signalling as the resident analogue system. Also, IP surveillance technology offers a manageable path towards a digital system without huge installation costs.

On the subject of cost, while those for analogue-based equipment are expected to remain static, that for IP surveillance technology is likely to come down (resulting in reduced prices for any system enhancements in the future). Moreover, as we've seen, IP surveillance technology has the capacity to be integrated into other functions and services. Thus it's a continually-developing medium.

What end users really want is hard evidence of systems in operation 'for real' – and the resultant benefits derived. After all, any part of the security spend must be justified in the eyes of the Board of Directors.

At the tail end of 2001, Newport City Council mandarins decided they had to do something to stem the rising tide of vandalism in local schools. A great many of the school sites and buildings targeted were classified as 'open' environments. In other words, children were allowed to make use of the school facilities out of normal hours for recreation. Perfectly sensible, as this meant parents would know their offspring were in a safe place.

However, most of the school buildings in question had been designed in the 1950s and 1960s – a time when vandalism, arson and the type of anti-social behaviour we (sadly) take for granted today were not on the agenda.

In addition, many of the designs feature both low and flat roofs, which naturally prove to be attractive havens for the more mischievous children of today. Not all trips to the roof were innocent acts of exploration, though, as school chiefs were finding out to their cost. Some pupils were quite literally running amok, lighting fires and engaging in other anti-social (and sometimes dangerous) pursuits.

The end result? Vandalism was costing the Council a massive £500,000 per annum and rising. One school was facing a £14,000 bill every year for the replacement of smashed glazing alone. The time had most certainly come for a plan of action to stem these malicious acts of destruction.

The security solution put in place is highly innovative. Combining the City Council and Gwent Police, the Newport Community Safety Partnership brought together private sector partners including Axis Communications, NTL, Farsight (an Axis Application Development Partner) and Bewator (Molynx) to develop a solution using digital CCTV technology.

Having secured funding for the project courtesy of the National Assembly for Wales (by way of its Crime Reduction Programme), local concern Camrasonic subsequently won out in the tender process for installation of the necessary systems across 20 school sites.

The objective – at least in part – was to use existing infrastructures to the full. The fact that Newport City Council had already installed high capacity fixed communication lines as part of its own National Grid for Learning initiative meant that an IP-based networked surveillance solution was possible with little additional infrastructure cost. The National Grid for Learning scheme provides a local networking environment with a number of PCs and high bandwidth comms lines connecting directly back to the corporate hub and then on to the Internet (see panel 'IP surveillance: the ideal solution for school security').

In addition, no dedicated CCTV infrastructure such as expensive coaxial twisted pair cabling was needed to link back to the monitoring station. Implementation was simply a matter of the local CCTV installation connecting to an Axis-supplied video server (the 2400 system) which is then plugged-up directly to the computer network. An IP address was then assigned to it such that the Civic Centre's remote monitoring centre staff could dial-in and remotely monitor the schools.

The 2400 video server is a high performance unit specifically designed for security-based surveillance operations. End users should note at this point that there are alternatives which are pretty much more akin to PCs complete with a network card and image capturing capabilities.

However, those who follow such a specification route often find that even a local analogue solution would have been far and away more preferable.

For its part, the 2400 is able to network up to four standard CCTV cameras connected via ordinary BNC connections.

It's also important to note that this aptly-named 'single box solution' is compatible with Axis' own 2191 Series audio module. Traditionally, audio has not been a big issue with analogue CCTV (predominantly because it couldn't be achieved). Digital solutions, though, can be seen to rewrite those unwritten rules somewhat.

When those protagonists behind the Newport Community Safety Partnership were asked what functions they might like to add to the system if they could start again from scratch, the response rounded on one variable... audio.

Initial phase developments
The initial phase of the Newport project saw live video footage being fed from an average of four cameras in each of the first six schools. When people approach sensitive areas of a given school (including the aforementioned flat roofs and other designated 'hot spots'), passive infra-red detectors – the Optex Redwall system – detect that movement, and trigger alarms are then passed back to the Newport Civic Centre Control Room.

Operators using special e-surveillance software supplied by Farsight can then take full control of the cameras (in this case Molynx Surcha domes supplied by Bewator, and mounted on special Altron poles) and monitoror or record the footage produced.

Thanks to the 2400 system, images can also be securely viewed via an Internet browser over the Wide Area Network (WAN) by authorised staff from selected desktops. Once a problem is identified, monitoring staff can then task Newport's established Estate Ranger Service or the local police to attend site.

Interestingly, the monitoring station being used is not one that's totally dedicated to CCTV. Of course, Newport Council does have a traditional CCTV monitoring operation for its city centre camera installations, but due to the fact that the proposed solution was only to react to alarm activations, the images are sent back to the Civic Centre Control Room where monitoring staff deal with 'social' alarms.

Cost savings to the end user
Thanks to the installation of IP surveillance for Newport Schools some considerable cost savings have already been achieved. All incidences of vandalism within the pilot site and damage to property have seemingly been stopped in their tracks.

Phil Cox, principal consultant at Newport City Council, told Security Management Today: "By taking advantage of the National Grid for Learning and Internet Protocol surveillance technology, this project has delivered true benefits to primary schools in the Newport area. We sincerely hope that other Councils will follow our lead."

Cox estimates that the final solution should save Newport City Council something in the region of £75,000 per annum. Not bad at all.

IP surveillance: the ideal solution for school security

The National Grid for Learning provides a great opportunity for school security teams to tighten up their security and thereby reduce vandalism to property. The fact that the majority of schools in the UK are now networked – and have some PCs linked-up to the Internet by virtue of Government investment – makes it possible to use this infrastructure to implement networked IP surveillance solutions. Once networked, it’s possible to easily transfer and save high quality, live video... and offer the sort of flexibility that’s ideal for school managers who may want to hand over 24-hour surveillance to a better-equipped third party. The fact that (in the case of Newport schools) most of the damage was being done after hours when pupils have mostly gone home and are unlikely to be using the computer facilities makes the use of networked IP surveillance even more compelling. Importantly, the National Grid for Learning initiative meant that fixed network lines were linked into the schools with capacity from 256 Kb up to 2 Mb. As these were only being used in school hours, the IP surveillance solution used the excess bandwidth capacity out of school hours to provide the network at no extra cost. The Newport system is now helping teachers and cleaning staff working late to feel safer as they can alert the central Control Room staff that they’re about to leave for home – and be escorted to their cars if necessary.

Source

SMT