The London borough of Bromley has used mobile CCTV against fly-tipping and anti-social behaviour. Transmission products from Vemotion, the Thirsk-based CCTV product firm, let the south London council reach hotspots outside their hard-wired fibre network. Fly-tipping in rural southern areas of the borough was costing the authority hundreds of thousands of pounds to keep shifting the rubbish. The borough sought to detect and deter tipping. Other technologies were tried and failed. William Ogg, Bromley’s CCTV Technical Officer, said: “Our main goal is evidence-based video. We want to be able to give it to a judge and for it to assist with convictions. I can use Vemotion for evidence in 95 per cent plus of all scenarios, and because you are not tied to any hardware, any supplier agreements, or any network deals – you have total flexibility to deploy it where and how you want. In specific rapid deployment scenarios, we tried other solutions that didn’t work.” At one store, Bromley worked with the manager to ‘piggy-back’ on its network, providing extra coverage which has reduced anti-social behaviour. Ogg said: “At 25 frames per second, we get the evidence-quality real time footage we need from Vemotion. Their encoding technology doesn’t max the bandwidth, whereas other solutions drain the bandwidth and become inoperable. We can deploy anywhere in the borough without consultation or red tape, in a few days. Conversely, a fixed camera system can take nine months plus to get in situ once civils have been organised. Quite frankly, if a serious attack has happened on a resident, we cannot wait nine months to offer reliable coverage and protection.”
Stewart McCone, Managing Director of Vemotion, said that Bromley has unique local challenges, however, there are consistent themes running through their approach to open space CCTV that will resonate with other local authorities. “In a world where costs are under increased scrutiny, councils need solutions that can be deployed quickly and cost effectively, without jumping through lots of red tape.”
Bromley is using Vemotion for flood detection and prevention in the south of the borough, where the local police have asked the authority to monitor for local pipe bursts. The council is looking to use Vemotion as part of an integrated strategic CCTV management plan; drawing the attention of a international law enforcement agency, seeking to understand ‘how is Bromley doing it’?
“Vemotion will work on any mobile network and can be dialled into from anywhere with any device, subject to the necessary authorisation,” added Stewart McCone.
Visit http://www.vemotion.com/ or call 08444 906 90.
Case
A Lewisham woman was caught on camera dumping house clearance waste at Cotmandene Crescent car park in St Paul’s Cray and has been fined in a prosecution by Bromley Council
Bromley Magistrates Court on June 4 fined the woman £100 with £20 victim surcharge and £500 court costs.
In September 2013, the council’s CCTV camera at Cotmandene car park provided images of two women unloading and dumping waste from the clearance of a house next to the Council’s recycle bins. The woman was identified and prosecuted for the offence under section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Councillor Tim Stevens, Executive Member for Public Protection and Safety said after the case: “Local residents, through their local councillors, requested CCTV at the Cotmandene Crescent car park to help combat regular dumping of rubbish there. I am pleased that council officers are able to bring people to account for their actions and hope this will send out a strong message that will help keep the car park clear of inappropriately dumped rubbish.”
