METRO and Leeds City Council

In 2012, Leeds City Council and METRO, a public transport provider operating in Yorkshire, amalgamated their CCTV command control rooms. Veracity ensured the transition was successful and seamless.

Now, both parties enjoy the benefits of a fully integrated, cost-efficient surveillance system. Multiple surveillance exercises are simultaneously carried out on an hourly basis. Control room operators have acquired full control over surveillance exercises.

How was the solution reached?

An automated, capacity enhancing system.

On the instillation, Wayne Clamp, CCTV Operations Manager for Leeds City Council, said: “It was important that we selected a surveillance system that was both easy to use and simple to navigate. Our operators are now free to employ more of their time being effective in their primary role, rather than being tied up with generating reports (due to Management Reporting).

Before the control room move and upgrade, our reporting structure was paper-based and a required task of our operators. Now, the reporting system is fully integrated into their responses to each incident. No data are lost. We benefit from clear, consistently structured reports for each and every incident.”

Keeping costs down by reconfiguring existing hardware.

Veracity’s objective was to create a hybrid network with all the digital control and functionality advantages without replacing the existing camera infrastructure that both Leeds City Council and METRO had invested in over the years. Primarily using Forward Vision cameras, the camera coverage for the combined system is extensive. The Leeds City Council public space network covers 240sq miles of the region via 255 cameras, whilst the METRO system covers 26 bus stations located throughout West Yorkshire, Metro’s HQ building and a number of park and ride sites. Operators also have access to 90 cameras from the Leeds Urban Traffic control.

Aiding law enforcement.

“With direct links to the Police and permanent Police Liaison officers stationed in the control room, any incident can be responded to and quickly dealt with as it develops”, Wayne Clamp said. “Whilst this process takes place, our system is recording high-quality images of the actions of all concerned – providing irrefutable evidence for any prosecution case. Additionally, the new system provides direct links to the four main Police stations of the area – enabling us to relay live images for any major events in the city. Ultimately, this enables a streamlined prosecution procedure for the Police, that saves time and money when dealing with any public space offence”. Scope for expansion Complementing the Leeds City Council public space and Metro CCTV systems, Veracity has drawn up plans to bring alarm handling and care services into the control room.

This will ensure that more of both parties’ security services can benefit from Veracity’s highly-efficient and effective technology. Veracity clients have the capacity to increase or decrease their surveillance capabilities if security requirements change over time: VIEWSCAPE, our application management software, allows users to add or remove applications with ease. A Veracity solution is future-proof.