Businesses, schools and other safety-conscious establishments are being sold systems which do not suit their needs, a police CCTV officer suggests.
Wiltshire Police video and photographic manager Ian Jakeman is concerned many businesses, schools and other safety-conscious establishments are being sold systems which do not suit their needs and make the job of the police more difficult when trying to identify offenders. He said: ?A lot of salesmen are going round selling digital equipment on the strength that it must be better because it is new technology. But that isn’t always the case and it’s more about understanding the images and what you want the system to achieve for you.? Mr Jakeman said Wiltshire has some of the best CCTV viewing and editing equipment in the country at its technical support unit at the constabulary headquarters in Devizes. It is continually having to invest in new equipment to cope with the many new and incompatible digital systems being introduced. Mr Jakeman said: ?Everyone is trying to bring out something new to capture a niche in the market. The cost for us to keep up with all the different systems is phenomenal. We are not saying digital is good or bad, we are simply asking people to come to us for advice before spending their money.” Stills of offenders will soon be posted on the Wiltshire Police intranet, an internal internet only accessible by police staff, as soon as they are processed. See www.wiltshire.police.uk.
