According to Ian Reid, group security manager at Europe’s largest vehicle auction company, British Car Auctions (BCA), which has thousands of vehicles at any time, ‘securing anything outdoors is infinitely more difficult than indoors’. Rochdale-based Leerose Integrated Systems has the contract to install CCTV and perimeter protection across BCA’s 21 UK auction sites.
Since carrying out its first installation for BCA at its Manchester Belle Vue auction site several years ago, Leerose has gone on to complete several other centres around the country. The latest roll-out to upgrade security across BCA’s network is on schedule for completion by early 2009. While every BCA auction site is different in terms of security, the basics at each are the need to safeguard the cars, commercial vehicles, motorcycles, even caravans. CCTV and electronic perimeter protection, often involving up to 20 cameras on some of the larger venues, enables remote monitoring of vehicle and people movement across every area of a site. On most BCA sites, there are three or four distinct parking zones, including the main canopied viewing area where the vehicles are lined up prior to driving into the auction hall, and each of these zones requires a different level of security.
PIRs
The installer designs and specifies a spacial detection system for detecting intrusion. External detectors cover open areas with external passive infra-red (PIR) devices which can pick up intruders as they walk from one area to another and active infra-red point to point beams creating an invisible fence line. A multi-camera installation, including high speed dome units with digital recording, can capture images from all areas of a site and feed them to monitoring screens at each local office. Here staff can take control of CCTV, panning, tilting and zooming cameras.
Auctions
Monitoring vehicle movement is only half the story. BCA hosts over 100 vehicle auctions every week, each one attended by thousands of customers. Ian Reid says: "An all-seeing integrated security system captures an electronic record of events that occurs on our sites, vehicular or human, and acts as a powerful deterrent. It’s not just preventing the loss of actual vehicles that BCA is concerned with; it’s the smaller scale incidents such as the petty theft of hub-caps, anti-social behaviour or accidental vehicle damage that can undermine the smooth operation of an auction’s business."
Response
In the local control rooms, recorded images can provide evidence of if and how an incident actually occurred for action and, if necessary, prosecution. However, sometimes a more immediate response is needed. Horn speakers around the sites let the controller target an announcement at an intruder or offender, there and then, leaving them in no doubt that their actions are being observed and recorded.
Remote monitoring
As well as being able to track CCTV at each local auction site, a benefit is that images from every BCA site are fed back to one central station for remote monitoring nationwide. Although this centre is active 24-7, it comes into its own at night if an intruder activates an alarm which then tells the operator which site and which zone is affected. It automatically screens images from the relevant camera and the controller has a ‘real time’ view of the incident, can track the intruders across a site and can even challenge them with audible warnings that they are being observed. Any BCA manager with the necessary password and broadband connectivity to the system can remotely monitor, so it becomes as much a management as a security tool. At any time, BCA managers can access a live feed to any of their UK auction sites and take control of the cameras to view specific areas or operations.
Weather
On an auction day, for example, staff can remotely monitor every stage of the operation and use the information to change or improve procedures. Or, as has happened during severe weekend weather, a manager can remotely observe an auction site to see if flooding or snow is a threat to parked vehicles. This integrated solution and remote monitoring facility has helped reduce the ongoing cost of manned guards and patrols and with return on investment a consideration for every security project and BCA no exception when it comes to seeking value for money, it has helped justify the spend. Ian Reid says: "Leerose not only develops the most sophisticated, integrated systems, but also applies them to the specific security challenges facing our auction sites, and within available budgets. By taking time to understand our business requirements and offer genuine solutions, Leerose has proved itself a valuable partner, and has been rewarded with this extended contract to install across all 21 of our UK auction sites."
