Police Scotland’s Mercedes communication van (pictured right), situated 50 metres from The Open 2016 at the Royal Troon site, acted as a control centre for 13 cameras varying from analogue, high-resolution IP devices and thermal imaging. The devices were mounted to view the spectator stands and parts of the course with some able to pan the course when required.
CCTV on The Open site had a range of sight of up to 200-250 metres to allow surveillance staff to monitor the crowds as they moved around the course and notify the police of any potential threats.
“It gave the control room staff a lot of insurance over what they normally would have got as a radio call,” said David MacGregor, senior technical officer, Police Scotland. “They got a feel for how busy it was very quickly as opposed to talking back and forward and having to ascertain on a map how the situation fitted together.”
Police Scotland’s vehicle was also upgraded by Veracity to take advantage of new technology. A Instek CCLite App – a video surveillance management console in a portable platform (pictured left) – meant that the camera feed to the controller’s screen could be shown on a tablet or smartphone. This provided more flexibility for the commanders on the ground.
“The ability to connect into legacy and/or upgraded infrastructure upon arrival at a venue, plus a programme of introducing IP cameras, has resulted in a very practical, efficient and highly-capable service being delivered from a single mobile unit,” adds Kingsley Greenman, director of technical projects for Veracity who worked closely with Police Scotland on the upgrade. “It is now feasible to deploy and be fully active on site within three hours of leaving their base station, providing a fully-functioning Security Control suite using innovative technology from Veracity for video surveillance recording.”
