CCTV in Hull has proven to be a powerful force in combating crime and with Police statistics recording a significant reduction in crime levels
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City wide CCTV Surveillance
System The Kingston upon Hull City-wide CCTV system is regarded as one of the largest in the UK and consists of over 450
cameras, deployed in and around the city of Hull, complex network connections and extensive Control Room and
Emergency Planning Suite. Atkins have played a fundamental part in designing the overall system and supporting the
scheme implementation and subsequent development to meet new requirements
The Business Challenge
In 2002 the Hull Community Safety
Partnership was successful in its bid to
secure additional funding from the
Home Office to allow the development
of the original scheme. The £5 million
funding grant was transferred to the
City Council to expand the city centre
CCTV scheme.
A major consultation exercise was
undertaken, involving Residents, City
Safe and other Community groups,
Police and City Council members
identified various locations (including
main streets, community centres,
residential areas and shopping centres)
that would benefit from CCTV.
This resulted in 400 camera locations
being identified. Each of these was re-
examined looking in detail at the
operational requirements, current levels
and types of crime, crime prevention
strategies. Planned CCTV coverage by
other agencies was also taken into
consideration.
The Atkins Solution
Atkins provided a detailed, costed
schedule of camera positions and
camera coverage drawings for each
location. This was to allow the number
of cameras to be reduced to meet the
Clients budget, while still optimising the
effectiveness of the CCTV system.
Atkins main role as Consultant for the
project was to work as a close partner
to the Council acting as their Engineer
for the project, to provide the technical
expertise needed for the system design
and to undertake project management
of the contract for the duration of the
installation.
Atkins worked very closely with all the
parties involved to ensure that the
demanding requirements were
developed into a comprehensive and
advanced technical specification.
The system, in the main, consists of
permanent camera installations using
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optical fibre technology and broadband
microwave as a means of transferring
broadcast quality colour images to the
control room.
The project had to include the use of
the City’s own data and video
transmission network provided by
Kingston Communications to support
the needs of the CCTV scheme.
There are however certain areas of the
City that were not adequately served by
the current number of CCTV cameras.
So the design solution included use of
single and multi-channel point to point
microwave links operating in the 31GHz
and 58 GHz bands. This allows some
cameras to be relocated as crime
patterns change.
Video recording is provided by an
extensive server based Digital
Recording system. This records all
camera images for a period of 31 days
and provides a rapid and convenient
method of access to recorded media
with the ability to down-load recordings
to DVD or SVHS tape for Police or
Court use. Redundancy and rapid
removal of video in the event of a major
incident are designed into the video
storage system with a number of
innovative solutions.
Control Room and Emergency
Planning Suite
The Control Room within Festival
House is built on two levels. The lower
floor is set aside as the Council’s
Emergency Planning Centre and
management offices, with the upper
floor as the CCTV Control Room. This
‘state of the art’ BS5979 Category
1Control Room accommodates 8
operator control desks with two
supervisor positions on an elevated rear
platform.
An extensive air-conditioned equipment
space has been created behind the
video monitor wall, making best use of
available space and also creating a
work area for technicians without
disrupting the day to day routine of the
CCTV operators.
Emergency power supply systems have
been designed with future expansion in
mind and can support a range of
possible future expansion plans without
the need for further refurbishment.
The system has been extended to
cover Park and Ride areas and a
number of key commercial buildings
within the City to provide a integrated
surveillance system.
Outcome and Key Benefits
CCTV in Hull has proven to be a
powerful force in combating crime and
with Police statistics recording a
significant reduction in crime levels the
scheme is subject to continuous growth
with new areas surrounding the centre
now being covered.
The system has become a key tool for
the Police who have extended their
video connections into the control room
to allow greater use of live video and
have a permanent liaison officer now
based in the control room.
Services Provided
• Specialist technical consultancy
• Strategic planning
• System design
• Contractor selection
• Project management
• System development
• System testing and commissioning
• Planning Supervisor
Project Components
• New control room facility to
BS5979 Cat 1. for 8 operators and
Emergency Planning Centre
• Integrated server based RAID
backed Digital Video Recording
system
• 450 Permanently sited and
transportable cameras covering,
• Wide area video and data
transmission
• CCTV Management system
• Automatic Number Plate
Recognition
• Documentation and Drawings
• Staff Training