Today, fighting and preventing street crime is an issue in all areas of the country. And just to prove the point, five centres in Somerset - including one of Britain's smallest cities, Wells - have installed a network of street surveillance cameras... and are already seeing the benefits.
Background
The rolling hills and ancient flood plains to the south of Bath and Bristol represent some of the most beautiful and peaceful parts of Britain - and the local authority looking after the Mendip area is determined to keep it that way.
Jenny Davies, Community Safety Officer at Mendip District Council, said: "Crime is not generally high in these areas compared to Bristol, for example, but businesses, especially, are keen to make sure our town centres are safe and pleasant places to live, work and shop."
"Cameras help people feel safe, especially in the evenings, and that is good for trade. The area also has to manage the influx of visitors every summer, in particular at the time of the Glastonbury festival."
"CCTV was an obvious solution - it's discreet and acts to inhibit crime as much as help trace the culprits."
Making the choice
Mendip looked at five town centres and examined all the technical options available - together with the companies that could supply the equipment needed. They selected Siemens Building Technologies Security Products.
"Bewator has an excellent reputation in the marketplace for reliability," said Jenny Davies, "and their products and systems are also extremely flexible - Bewator's modular approach, for example, meant that it was quite simple for us to upgrade to Bewator's more advanced matrix quite late in the project."
The cameras, the majority of which are housed within Bewator Surcha domes, are located at: Wells (12), Shepton Mallet (10), Glastonbury (6), Frome (6). A further ten in nearby Street are in the process of being upgraded but operate independently of the Wells Control Centre.
Bewator's Surcha domes are connected via fibre optic and/or copper cabling and a Bewator V3i matrix to three Bewator keyboards in the control centre in Wells. The views are shown on a total of 13 monitors and the centre also has a further monitor dedicated to reviewing images.
From here, each of the 34 cameras can be positioned to concentrate on suspicious activity. Each camera position can also be programmed to automatically view certain areas of particular interest such as cash points or shop entrances.
Installation
With the exception of those in Wells, installation of the cameras was carried by Street-based SRT Security Systems, which also fitted out the control room.
SRT's Managing Director, Steve Taylor, said: "We chose Bewator products because we have used them before and have proved their reliability for ourselves. The Bewator matrix, which enables multiple keyboards to programme and control 34 of the cameras, offers cutting-edge functionality."
Installation of the cameras in Wells was carried out by Newbury-based Advanced Vision Systems. Partner Roger Daymond comments: "We find the Bewator products offer good value for money. In addition to Wells, we have installed and maintain Bewator domes in Yeovil and Bridgwater, and they are all working beautifully."
The results
A year on from the initial installation and Mendip District Council is certain that it made the right choice. "Everyone living and working in the five centres recognises that CCTV has a big part to play in keeping our streets safe for everyone to use, and we've been delighted with the technical aspects of the installation," said Jenny Davies.
"The police have been delighted with the quality of images captured, and this will help them secure convictions, and we have also noticed that known troublemakers are now keeping well away from the areas under surveillance."
"The equipment is working well and it's also good to know that their systems, being modular, can be readily expanded or upgraded to meet any future requirements we may have."
"Bewator's technical advice and assistance has proved invaluable throughout the three-year project. The company is very much one we can work with. They offer good support, expert service and are generally very helpful," added Jenny Davies
On the strength of the results to date, Mendip is now planning a next phase of CCTV installations in their area - using SBT equipment.
