The Gurdwara Singh Sabha in Bradford, pictured, has had video surveillance fitted. Some 32 high definition Illustra IP network cameras from Tyco, the security products division of Johnson Controls, have been installed by a local firm, Kings Secure Technologies to monitor around the site of the Sikh place of worship.
Kings was one of three companies invited to compete for the contract, after from a risk assessment carried out by a Designing Out Crime officer (DOCO) of West Yorkshire Police. Paul Atherton, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer at Kings, said: “The members of the Gurdwara wanted to take advantage of the very latest video surveillance technology to provide the police with high quality video evidence of any incidents or suspicious activity. With 32 cameras required in order to ensure there would be no blind spots, this size of a project might normally stretch the budget of a place of worship, even though Illustra cameras are competitively priced. Fortunately, the Gurdwara was able to successfully apply for help with the cost of installing the new system via the security funding scheme available as part of the Government Hate Crime Action Plan. This was possible because the Gurdwara had been the target of religion based hostility.”
The 32 cameras are a mix of indoor and weatherproof, vandal-resistant 2 megapixel and 3 megapixel mini-domes. With Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) and built-in IR illumination, they are designed the makers say to work across a wide range of lighting from bright sunlight to total darkness; for when there is a need to capture faces and the vehicle number plates.
An Exacq IP04-12T-DT Network Video Recorder (NVR) with 12 Terabytes of storage installed by Kings, records all 32 cameras. The IP04-12T-DT has 64 camera channels and so provides the Gurdwara with the option to install further cameras.
The Gurdwara, a former factory, was converted into a place of worship and extended to provide space for educational and recreational activities and functions such as weddings. Surjit Singh, a member of the Gurdwara, said: “Our Gurdwara is in almost constant use by the Sikh community in Bradford. We have installed the cameras so that we can assist the police in prosecuting anyone who commits a hate crime by being insulting or verbally aggressive towards any of our worshippers or visitors.
“The clarity of the images captured by the Illustra cameras is impressive and this has allowed us to pass on to investigating officers good quality video evidence of some recent incidents. As well as being able to locally access the images stored on the NVR, we also have the added bonus of being able to use the Exacq mobile App on our smartphones or tablets, enabling us to remotely keep a close eye 24/7 on what may being happening in the immediate vicinity of the Gurdwara.”
