Controlware Communications Systems

Mission
With a population exceeding 82,000 Runnymede Borough Council is committed to reducing the fear of crime and increasing public safety. To help meet these aims the council moved to a new purpose built 24 hour control centre in 2008.  As part of the upgrade the council selected a flexible recording solution from Controlware that delivers high performance video, saves costs and is future proofed to support technology upgrades. 

Solution
The council network includes a mixture of both analogue and IP cameras with numerous sites linked over Broadband. Working closely with installation partners Central Security Systems codec’s were installed to cost-efficiently encode video from more than 160 analogue cameras so that video could be recorded digitally. In the control room video from the analogue cameras and 40 IP cameras is monitored. The council benefits from fast access to archived video from 200 cameras, improving public safety and enabling residents and visitors to feel more secure.

Community Safety Manager for Runnymede Borough Council, David Dodd said: “CCTV is an important weapon to help combat crime and the fear of crime. Controlware has been on hand to support us every step of the way with this important project that provides advanced IP video management, control and recording of CCTV from cameras situated around the Borough.”

Result
The new solution makes installation, operation, and maintenance much easier. The council is able to save costs by retaining investment in their existing 160 analogue cameras instead of replacing them. Support for expansion of storage capacity and reliability is also assured as new cameras are added to the network and the council’s recording requirements evolve in the future.

The new digital recording system provides fast access to recorded images allowing users to easily search and review archive video. This is a significant improvement on the previous system that required time-consuming searches of multiple videotapes to look for specific incidents.

“Today operators can view both live CCTV and archive video side-by-side at the same time,” explains David Dodd. “Operators can therefore quickly review incidents while tracking suspects in real-time and this is a powerful tool which is already producing a 25% increase in identifiable results at the same staffing levels”