Jack Lincoln, head of security at the Public Record Office in Kew, is tasked with guarding some of the nation's treasures – including the Domesday Book. When the time came for a security upgrade, Lincoln was looking for a digital surveillance system that could produce high quality images for evidential purposes in the event of a major incident.
Not only was Lincoln seeking higher resolution images over greater distances, he also wanted improved night vision from the camera installation – particularly important in the sealed chamber that houses the Domesday Book – as well as high performance digital image acquisition and storage systems. The presence of valuable documents necessitated a recording system with a refresh rate of at least four frames per second per camera.
Installed by ADT's Sunbury office, the specified systems include Vicon Industries' Kollector digital recorders, 1/3 CCD cameras and Surveyor 2000 dome systems – the latter monitoring car parks and other public access ways on a round-the-clock basis.
In use, the Nova V1344 matrix controls the video switcher, pan and tilt, lens and auxiliary functions, and can control switching for anything up to 128 cameras and 24 monitors.
Speaking about the installation, Lincoln told Security Management Today: "The Vicon Kollector is very user-friendly, and offers double the frames-per-second rate that we originally specified. The recordings are good resolution, and similar to real-time recording."
Vicon Industries – Enquiry 101
Pentax fuels the CCTV debate
With the debate about the effectiveness of CCTV in THE UK raging on, enlightened commentators in Darlington would say the facts speak for themselves.
Prior to the introduction of what has now become a 90-camera surveillance system in the north east town, there were 400 reported incidents of car crime every year in the town centre alone. Last year, with a CCTV system operating around the clock, the number of reported incidents was down to just 20.
"We never claimed CCTV would stop public disorder or stamp out crime completely, but our cameras pick up these incidents, they're recorded and this evidence backs up arrests and prosecutions," commented Darlington Borough Council's CCTV general manager Graham Putt.
The installed camera system uses a number of Pentax's large format 12 x 240 mm zoom lenses and a larger number of 10 x 140 mm lenses in units that cover the town centre, the marketplace, shopping centres and a number of out-of-town council estates.
The system was initially installed by ADT Fire and Security, but Photo-Scan Systems has recently completed extensions using the Pentax lenses.
Pentax (UK) – Enquiry 102
Pentax Life in the Fastlane at IDL
Walker Packman was recently brought in to design and project manage the refurbishment of Southside, the well-known office complex in London's Victoria that plays host to the Lord Chancellor's Department and The Court Service.
Part of the company's brief was to design a security system that would complement the modern design and décor of the new reception areas, but still provide an effective deterrent against unwanted intruders. The chosen access control set-up also had to offer Southside's many staff and visitors a combination of user-friendliness and speed of use so as not to impede their ingress or egress to and from the building.
In the end, Integrated Design's Fastlane ClearStyle optical turnstiles were installed. Fastlane replaces the physical barrier of traditional turnstiles with infrared beams to monitor the passage of all individuals as they enter and leave the building.
Each entrant is assigned an access card that they present every time they pass through Fastlane. This ensures a 'one person, one card' policy is rigidly enforced.
Integrated Design – Enquiry 103
Monitoring taken to Extremes
The latest series of explosion-protected cameras to be developed by Extreme CCTV have been chosen to remotely monitor a rather interesting 'project' – an active volcano in the Antarctic.
Here, the risk of acidic gases and 'volcanic bombs' means that ordinary surveillance cameras might well be destroyed or trigger explosions themselves.
With installations of this kind, where cameras are subject to potentially explosive gases or particles that can ignite, they must either be intrinsically safe or encased in a rated housing. Extreme CCTV supplies a variety of explosion-protected cameras, monitors, housings and related equipment.
In truth, the study of Mount Erebus will take remote surveillance technology to new environmental limits, with scientists asking for a system that can transfer images via wireless RF.
To capture video images in these extreme conditions, the specified equipment includes wind turbines, batteries, infrared-sensitive SX600 and CX400 LXR-CCD cameras and reliable, fixed varifocal lenses.
Extreme CCTV – Enquiry 104
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