Shropshire Council, seeking to monitor outlying CCTV cameras, is deploying low bandwidth video transmission. The Shropshire Monitoring Centre is part of a larger ‘family’ involving the council’s Civil Enforcement Parking Officers, public space CCTV, out of hours customer service, bylaw inspector, dog wardens, car park and cash collection staff and supporting street scene managers, in dealing with environmental crimes.
Dave Roberts, the council’s Environmental Enforcement Manager has responsibility for CCTV. He said: “Within Shrewsbury, most cameras are connected to our own fibre network but the cost of fibre connections from outlying positions would have been prohibitive. Vemotion has provided us with an effective, low cost solution backed by superb service.” Shropshire installed the Vemotion multi-channel video encoder at Whitchurch Police Station. This enabled live video feeds from CCTV in the Whitchurch area to be streamed to the monitoring centre via a low bandwidth broadband connection. Up to 16 cameras can be monitored at once. The encoder automatically optimises each feed to provide the best resolution depending on the number of cameras being viewed at any time and the available bandwidth. For instance, when an operator picks up an item of interest, they can select the relevant camera feed and view the live video using the full network bandwidth to maximise image clarity. Shropshire has also been able to access live CCTV images for Environment Agency staff managing flood risk at Shrewsbury riverside. Agency staff are able to view images on their mobile phone or laptop to assist in their decision making during time of flooding or flood risk.
Shropshire Council Cabinet member, Councillor Steve Charmley said: “The council aims to provide services which are fit for the future and offer value for money. This solution fulfils these aims and contributes to our wider work with partners to reduce crime in the county.”
A case study outlining the newly deployed solution can be viewed at www.vemotion.com.
