TSS (Traffic Safety Systems) - part of AD Group - has supplied its latest PatrolVu mobile digital CCTV system to equip two new patrol vehicles in support of Barnsley's multi-agency Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNTs). The solution is being used primarily to help tackle anti-social behaviour and reduce crime and disorder in the local area.
The new vehicles, which TSS has fitted out, feature low light CCTV cameras on the front and also roof mounted; an on-board monitor for image review; advanced digital recording and control equipment and external microphones. This is in addition to three other vehicles with older analogue systems delivered previously by TSS.
Martin Kenworthy, a Tasking Officer with Hoyland and Wombwell Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) based at Hoyland Police Station, says: "We tend to use the vans more overtly rather than covertly for neighbourhood policing. The key problems we face, and which PatrolVu is helping us to clamp down on, are alcohol related disorder associated with underage drinking and general youth nuisance."
"A good example of the sort of activity we have to deal, while on patrol, is where large groups of youths congregate at night in a field adjacent to a local housing estate to drink alcohol. In this case, rather than simply sending Impact Wardens or Police Community Support Officers into the field to take drinks off the underage youths, which will tend to make them scatter and cause more problems, we are able to apply the equipment intelligently to identify specific things they are doing by using the PatrolVu system's powerful roof mounted camera, with 18x optical zoom, and so take more targeted action against key individuals."
"Crucially, the presence of the vans provides much needed reassurance to the local community that problems are being tackled as well as making offenders think twice about their actions, particularly when large groups start to disperse where, without the vans in place, additional anti-social behaviour could occur."
"External microphones linked in to the PatrolVu system allow us to pick-up sound. This facility has proved invaluable in identifying trouble makers. In the heat of the moment people tend to call their associates by their real rather than assumed name!"
TSS has helped Barnsley in its transition from analogue to digital CCTV by providing vital training and technical support. In addition, going digital removes the tape management issues associated with the older technology. Now with the NetVu ObserVer video management software image sequences or book marked incidents can be easy selected and reviewed on a PC, once downloaded from the PatrolVu unit's hard disk.
Alan Mole, Managing Director at TSS, says: "We are extremely pleased with the success of PatrolVu in Barnsley. This type of solution is proving to be an invaluable resource to combat street crime and anti-social behaviour. As a mobile solution it can be rapidly deployed to known hot spots to act as a high visibility deterrent, preventing incidents from happening in the first place and where events are in progress reducing the chance of an escalation and, crucially, allowing the gathering of vital evidence. The value of mobile CCTV was underlined recently when CCTV images of an attack on one of the wardens involved in the Barnsley scheme led directly to that suspect being identified and taken to court."
