CCTV: crucial rôle

Public transport systems the world over are at risk from terrorist attacks. Closed circuit television (CCTV) is a useful weapon in the authorities’ fight against terrorism and crime.

Not so long ago, CCTV systems were an optional extra for public transport authorities. Useful in identifying petty criminals, pictures shot on a transport authority’s property could often be valuable evidence in court.

Now CCTV has moved from the ‘nice to have’ category to become virtually essential. As the roll call of city transport systems struck by terrorist attacks gets depressingly long, (Tokyo, Moscow, Madrid and London spring instantly to mind), transport authorities are now in the front line of the fight against terrorism. CCTV is a useful aid in identifying suspects after an event, but also, hopefully, the technology can play a valuable role in helping to prevent outrages from taking place.

Certainly the value of CCTV was displayed in last July’s bombings on the London Underground. Pictures of four men entering a station carrying rucksacks were available to the authorities shortly after the attacks and these were later widely publicised by the police. The police said the pictures showed the terrorists entering the public transport system together before dispersing to go about their deadly errands. CCTV helped not only in establishing who the perpetrators were, but also in following their movements across the public transport system.

As well as three underground trains, a bus was blown up in the London attacks. Although the back of the bus was virtually destroyed by the force of the blast, the front remained almost intact – the driver was able to get out of his cab and walk around his vehicle immediately after the explosion. If there had been working CCTV equipment at the front of the bus it could have captured some vital evidence – but unfortunately on the vehicle concerned the CCTV was not working on the morning of 7 July. This emphasises the importance of keeping CCTV equipment in working order at all times.

The 7 July bombings have only underlined Transport for London’s determination to step up security measures on the British capital’s public transport system. Under the Public Private Partnership investment in the London Underground system, the number of CCTV cameras on the network is set to double to 12,000 by 2010. As an additional measure in the wake of the bombings, TfL is hoping an extra 100 British transport police officers will be recruited for the city’s underground railway network. This will cost about £5million per annum, which is not covered by the PPP budget.

Docklands Light Railway deploys CCTV to combat vandalism and anti-social behavior.

Several years ago, Serco Docklands in London came up with the idea of adding value to the service provided to passengers of the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), to be achieved by displaying real-time news and advertising in the carriages. They worked closely with wireless specialists Wavesight on a pilot project using trackside wireless radio access points to provide a constant feed of information to screens in each carriage.

The Pilot was very successful, so much so in fact that it proved the concept of reliable real-time wireless data transfer to a moving train, whereas previous applications had allowed information to be transferred only when the trains reached their destination. Since then, with a focus on increased passenger safety and security, the DLR has employed Wavesight’s technology for feeding in-carriage CCTV images back to DLR’s operations centre. Video feeds from security cameras in each carriage are transmitted wirelessly to access points along the track, providing high resolution, real time images. Deployment by integrators Falcon Protec has moved rapidly, helped by the ease of installation and set up of Wavesight’s radio units.

As a result, network managers are now able to identify potential incidents as they develop and, therefore, pro-actively deal with them before they escalate, rather than merely dealing with the consequences. This has already had a positive effect in their efforts to combat vandalism and other anti-social behavior on the network.

Cameras on vehicles

Cameras have become common on the sides of buildings in areas such as stations, but increasingly they are being used in vehicles too. As an example, the D78 stock used on London’s District Line is being refurbished at Bombardier’s Derby plant and as part of this work is having cameras and digital video recorders from Australian company Innovonics installed.

Innovonics has more than ten years’ experience in transit systems and has released a new high performance transit digital video recorder based on the same technology used in the company’s DVR-100 product line. The DVC-50 boasts either four or eight camera inputs, each recorded at up to 25fps simultaneously. Images are compressed using the industry standard MPEG-4 codec, which provides high resolution images whilst allowing for storage times of up to 168 hours. The DVC-50 is housed in a compact enclosure targeted at the rail refurbishment, light-rail and bus CCTV markets.

Innovonics is aware that performance requirements for on-train CCTV systems have been steadily increasing both in frame rate and recording time capacity; both the DVR-100 and DVC-50 have been designed to meet both current and future standards.

The next-generation on-train CCTV systems supplied by Innovonics for use on London Underground tube stock include cameras, driver’s monitors and digital video recorders. The systems are compliant to the EN-50155, EN-50121-3-2, RIA-12, RIA-13, RIA-18 and RIA-20 standards, and all are housed in IP65 enclosures.

Innovonics is currently supplying CCTV systems to large mainline fleets in the UK and has won additional major contracts for on-train CCTV systems in Ireland, Spain and Australia.

Innovonics has also introduced a new high-performance forwards-view camera. Coupled with a DVC-50 or DVR-100 recorder, the camera allows the recording of the ‘driver’s view’ video at 25fps – critical in high-speed applications – with high image quality during either day or night operation.

In the back office, Innovonics’ iView CCTV Review Suite allows investigators to quickly search for, view, authenticate and export incident footage.

Innovonics says that both the DVR-100 and DVC-50 are well suited to both new-build and refurbishment transit projects, offering ease of installation and commissioning with low life-cycle cost and high reliability. The company stresses that close integration with the vehicle owner/builder/operator results in a cost-effective high-performance solution with room to expand as needs change. Integrated diagnostics and maintenance tools help ensure that footage is available when it is needed. Both systems support standard communications network interfaces allowing for live video monitoring and automated download at vehicle depots.

Innovonics’ CCTV systems follow the ‘best practice’ policies and procedures established by the UK Home Office and Police Scientific Development Branch.

New York invests

The United States, the subject of terror attacks in 2001, is another acutely security-conscious nation. Although the 2001 attacks did not target public transport, the Americans clearly feel there is no room for complacency. The country’s biggest public transport authority, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) placed a contract with Lockheed Martin in August this year, with the company tasked to undertake a comprehensive upgrade of MTA’s electronic security operations infrastructure. The Authority oversees the New York City Transit system, Long Island Railroad, Metro North Railroad, and MTA bridges and tunnels.

As the prime contractor for the Integrated Electronic Security System and Command, Communications and Control (IESS/C3) programme, Lockheed Martin will lead a team to design, develop and deploy a critical infrastructure protection system that integrates the command, communications and control capabilities across MTA facilities.

Work under the initial three-year contract, valued at US$212 million, will start immediately. The contract includes maintenance options that could extend the programme to September 2013.

MTA Security Director Bill Morange said the contract ‘enables us to move forward with our plans to create a next generation command and control structure that addresses future needs for hardening our transit system against terror threats and ultimately provide a safer environment for MTA customers’.

The contract includes provision of a mobile phone service, on the premise that being able to contact the emergency services whilst underground is a more important consideration than the risk of mobile phones being used to detonate bombs. London Underground is also investigating the provision of a mobile phone capability in the tube network.

The New York contract includes motion sensors and equipment to detect biological and chemical agents. The American city is, however, behind its British counterpart on CCTV provision: the MTA is budgeting for 1,000 cameras against LU’s 12,000.

Copenhagen invests

While events have shown the USA and the UK to be in the front line of the war against terror, no country can consider itself immune. DSB, Denmark’s state rail operator, is deploying Verint’s Networked Video Solution to enhance passenger security on the Copenhagen railway system.

DSB transports 700,000 passengers each working day across Copenhagen’s rail network. As part of an ongoing strategy to enhance passenger security and improve customer service, DSB is implementing Verint’s Mobile Networked Video Solution in rail cars in certain portions of the Copenhagen railway system. The Verint solution will enable onboard rail operations personnel to monitor activities to help prevent crime and create a safe environment for passengers and employees.

Verint’s Networked Video Solutions enable government and commercial organisations to enhance the security of their facilities by networking video across multiple locations and applying advanced content analytics to extract actionable intelligence from live and stored video. By alerting security personnel to potential security threats, Verint’s Networked Video Solutions are designed to help organisations prevent security breaches and improve response time.