Anti-social behaviour presents a dilemma for communities across the UK. The term itself covers a range of problems such as disruptive neighbours, vandalism, graffiti, abandoned cars, drug dealing and large groups of rowdy youths. If anti-social behaviour in a community is left to grow unchallenged, it can lead to the decline of the neighbourhood, as people are forced to move away and tenants abandon houses.
Combating the scourge of anti-social behaviour has proved to be difficult, costly and time consuming for local authorities and private individuals across the country. What is often the case is that many members of troubled communities are unwilling to report anti-social behaviour, or to testify in court because of possible repercussions they can face from the perpetrators within the community. What is needed is a solution that can provide demonstrative evidence of anti-social behaviour which can be then used in court to secure convictions against the perpetrators. The system is required to be compact (briefcase sized), rapidly deployable and fully covert.
Such a solution exists, and the company behind it has been successful in helping police and local authorities secure court convictions against lawbreakers for the past six years. VIT Innovation has supplied fixed and mobile covert solutions, surveillance vehicles and police ‘trap’ cars.
VIT Innovation Limited is a security solutions provider specialising in creating rapidly deployable bespoke security solutions.
One recent case in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire involved unruly youths who were persistently damaging council property and stoning passing vehicles. Broxbourne Council contacted VIT who provided a mobile covert surveillance system in a problem hotspot in a bid to gather video evidence for prosecution against the youths.
VIT’s covert camera was so well disguised that the youths failed to notice it from six inches away. The placement of a visible dummy camera close to the site of the disguised one acted as a decoy as the youths set about destroying the dummy, unaware that their actions were being recorded. The surveillance operation was successful as the main culprits were captured on digital recordings damaging public property.
Because of the clarity of the recordings obtained from the VIT cameras – even in darkness when many attacks take place – police are able to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice. Successful prosecutions have seen a reduction in anti-social behaviour in the Broxbourne area.
VIT’s systems are small, simple to operate and manage, can be rapidly deployed, on buildings, vehicles or even body-worn, to gather the necessary quality images for evidential use.
Systems can be mains or battery powered, remotely accessed, and can allow weeks of recordings to be recovered from sites in less than one minute.
In the past six months with five councils, VIT’s products have led to over 70 arrests.
About VIT Innovation Ltd
VIT Innovation Limited manufactures a range of equipment to tackle fly-tipping and anti-social behavior and is working with police and local authorities to detect, record and prosecute offenders.
