Many local authorities and public space managers continue to face budgetary challenges. In the face of cuts to local government funding, thrift is a necessity. Every penny spent must be justified. Local government departments with outdated CCTV control rooms are thus presented with a challenge: do we upgrade our surveillance capacity or watch our CCTV systems decay? For some, you can’t put a price on public safety, even in austere times.

However, those who choose to upgrade their surveillance capacity realise that there is not necessarily a trade off between public safety and local public finances. For today’s surveillance technologies can save money in the long run, as the cost of maintaining old, disparate surveillance systems often means local authorities are spending more on repairs than they need to. Investing in modern surveillance technologies can be more economical than continually paying for repairs to old CCTV systems, as one council CCTV control room operator told us:

“Our previous CCTV system was outdated. We were spending more money on maintaining the old system than it cost to install. It was completely uneconomical in comparison to today’s equipment. The cost of investing in our new system was offset by the money we would have spent on continually repairing the old one”.

Aside from lowering maintenance costs over the long-term, today’s control room software reduces the cost of manual security operations. How? Take iComply’s Incident Reporting application. It systematically reports and logs all incidents, events and alarm triggers, so that manual security resources can be redeployed elsewhere. Similarly, Management Reporting automatically generates graph-rich reports, eliminating the need for control room operators to devote manual resources to report production.

Julia Stack, Community Safety and CCTV Manager at Harrogate County Council affirmed told us that upgrading her council’s CCTV control room technology has produced immediate operational benefits:

“Our councillors agreed that keeping local residents safe by investing in new kit was a priority. So, in 2012, we invested £100,000 in a state of the art facility with digital recording operational capability and flat screens for ease of monitoring. Future proofing was what we did.”

Aside from lowering maintenance costs and freeing up manual security resources, integrated surveillance and security systems can be a means to generate an income, as CCTV Operations Manager for Nottingham Police and Nottingham City Council, Neil Harvey, told us:

“Control room costs can be shared with local businesses and organisations. Police forces, out of town retailers, industrial estates and small and large firms share the benefits of 24-hour integrated surveillance systems, which puts some control room operators in a position to be able to charge for keeping other organisations’ premises safe.”

So, integrated surveillance technologies are not necessarily a drain on financial resources. On the contrary, they are a means to reduce the cost of comprehensive security coverage. The costs of maintaining old, desperate surveillance systems falls substantially. Control room personnel are freed up from time intensive but essential manual exercises. And an income can be generated from local organisations that share the benefits of 24-hour CCTV coverage.

31 July 2015

Putting a price on public safety?

any local authorities and public space managers continue to face budgetary challenges. In the face of cuts to local government funding, thrift is a necessity. Every penny spent must be justified. Local government departments with outdated CCTV control rooms are thus presented with a challenge: do we upgrade our surveillance capacity or watch our CCTV systems decay? For some, you can't put a price on public safety, even in austere times.
21 January 2015

Video Surveillance as a service on the up!

  icomply’s Vivek Kumar contributes expert opinion to January’s edition of A&S India The global video surveillance as a service market is expected to grow from […]
21 January 2015

Overhaul of Boots Security Centre

icomply have recently partnered with TIS, one of the UK’s leading independent fire, security and communications specialists, on overhauling the security system of Boots UK – one of the largest […]
8 July 2013

Integration with Ogier Electronics

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22 May 2013

icomply and Zenitel’s STENTOFON Integration

icomply are delighted to announce an integration partnership with ZenitelUK, providers of state-of-the-art voice over IP audio systems. Zenitel’s STENTOFON IP communication solution is an integrated audio […]
17 May 2013

Dave Wilkinson, BSIA: ‘The future of security is integration’

For icomply, the theme at IFSEC International 2013 was ‘looking back, looking forward’.  With this in mind, we asked Dave Wilkinson, Technical Manager of the British Security […]
2 May 2013

Technology partnership with icomply and Veracity

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10 April 2013

icomply and Vigilant Technology announce partnership

icomply are pleased to announce that they have entered into a technology partnership with Vigilant Technology.  Vigilant’s range of VMS technologies is now fully integrated into […]
22 March 2013

icomply announce integration with Crime and Fire in Yorkshire-based partnership

icomply and Crime and Fire have announced an integration partnership, producing a complete security solution for CCTV and perimeter protection of critical national infrastructure. Crime and […]
25 January 2013

icomply announce integration with Commend UK

icomply are pleased to announce that they have entered into a technology partnership agreement with Commend UK.  Commend are a global market leader developing and manufacturing security […]
23 October 2012

icomply attend Global MSC Seminar 2012

icomply would like to invite you to the Global MSC Security Seminar (Queen’s Hotel, Leeds, Tuesday 13th November).  Free to end users, the seminar’s theme is an overview […]
22 August 2012

icomply and AMG-Panogenics in Strategic Technology Partnership

AMG-Panogenics, the British manufacturer of sophisticated 5 Megapixel cameras, and icomply, UK based software developers of the integrated security application platform V-TAS Pro, are pleased to announce […]
7 August 2012

icomply announces integration partnership with Tecton

icomply, developers of the V-TAS Pro integration platform and finalists at the Security Excellence Awards 2012, have announced a technology integration partnership with Tecton. One of […]
11 June 2012

icomply appoint Director of Business Development, Michael Gallagher

icomply are pleased to announce the appointment of Michael Gallagher as Director of Business Development.  We’ve seen substantial growth in demand for V-TAS Pro integration software, […]
22 May 2012

Our interview with Veracity at IFSEC

We caught up with Alastair Walker, Business Development Manager from Veracity, to find out why he attends IFSEC and what the future holds for the security […]