Ian Warren, pictured, Senior Security Consultant, at Advent IM Ltd, writes about CCTV in public spaces, and retail and entertainment venues in particular.
CCTV has become a fact of life, a necessary tool in the arsenal of law enforcement and local government, monitoring our public spaces and traffic enforcement. At the same time, retail, and sports and entertainment stadia, have embraced the use of such technologies for the greater good of crowd monitoring, crime reduction and ongoing and post-incident analysis and for evidential purposes.
The first use of a โsystemโ was way back in 1927 in the former USSR, where Leon Theremin, physicist, demonstrated a physical, 100 lines resolution, camera system that impressed Stalin so much he installed it in the Kremlin courtyard to observe approaching visitors; so it begins.
The first commercial system was developed in 1949 by CBS laboratories and sold as the Vericon, enabling those with the financial means to make use of this security enhancement. The analogue cable solution meant that there was no requirement for a broadcast licence in the United States, making the system more attractive to the commercial world.
Systems developed into more manageable solutions, which enabled greater integration throughout the seventies, with the first use of CCTV at a football stadium in 1975. Since then, CCTV has grown into a multibillion-pound industry, as companies vie for a lucrative market in the ability to supplement manpower with technical solutions and monitor public spaces. Although we mustnโt forget, CCTV is not the great panacea, and is best used as part of a fully integrated security solution. All too often, do I see poorly considered systems, camera placement, and storage-retention solutions.
What now in retail and arenas?
The ability to use such technology remains a desirable capability given the quality of camera lenses and compact, small designs packing a punch. The flexibility of IP connectivity, means systems can be spread over a wide area, which suits the shopping centre and sports arena estate. Of course, one of the concerns is personal privacy, Big Brother is Watching; 1984 has come and gone, and has not materialised in the dystopian way of Aldous Huxley for the majority of countries, although some seem aligned. Nevertheless, the UK has a significant number of cameras, 7,371,903 according to an estimate in 2022 by Clarion Security Systems (Google source), thatโs one camera for every 11 people, so chances are youโre likely to be captured up to 70 times a day if youโre out and about in busy towns and cities.
That level of coverage focuses the mind, and the โhow appropriate and proportionateโ are that number of cameras? That is why the Biometric and Surveillance Camera Commissionerโs (BSCC) Passport to Compliance, was such a good development and implemented to aid UK Government and businesses for the right way to introduce the use of CCTV. It asks the questions to be considered before taking the plunge, to ensure due diligence is used to consider all the implications of such systems, especially in public environments, and the privacy impact that could be made by the use of such systems.
The BSCCโs Passport to Compliance works alongside the Information Commissionerโs Office (ICO), who too, have their CCTV Code of Conduct to ensure Data Protection considerations are made when using CCTV.
Very much on minds is the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and use of this technology to โlearnโ, to adapt and make decisions very quickly. Again, the computer world saw the increased capabilities manifest itself in the likes of chess programmes that could beat Grand Masters. We see these advancing steps taking root in the CCTV world, with the early use of Video Analytics that looked for changes in the environment to determine a possible intruder. But those early systems required sterile environments, and even then, a shadow cast by a passing cloud was enough to trigger an alarm; that was almost 20 years ago.
We are now in the realms of intelligent analytics that consider the human form, with walking gait, facial recognition, and thermal imagery for body heat signatures. The use of such learning is being seen in the development of human behaviours analytics. While this isnโt looking into the future a la Minority Report, it nevertheless, points at the ability of a system to alert to changes in a group or individual behaviour to enable an operator to assess and act if necessary. We strive to be as close as we can to the one step ahead of a Threat Group/Actor, but unless we have the pre-event intelligence, we can only watch and wait.
Again though, it is important that the legislators get the appropriate laws of use in place to โcontainโ the genie in the bottle. Terminator was a vision of AI taking control with Skynet (strangely, a UK satellite system in use; hmmm โฆ) becoming โconsciousโ and targeting the human race.
The use of drones is well known, thanks to the events of the last two years in Ukraine, where small, readily available drones have been used to deploy weapons, and more recently, swarm attacks. Such tech had already been harnessed by the entertainment industry with swarm displays as seen at New Year, and more recently the D-Day commemorations. Some police forces are using drones as a cheap, easily deployable asset in place of costly helicopters, theyโre literally carried in the boot of a patrol vehicle and can be set up and deployed on the scene to aid in an overlook or wider area search capability.
Such systems can enhance a large stadium operation, pre-programmed to patrol, or again, deployed by a user. But wider applications for more public spaces might be detrimental with the noise pollution generated by a high frequency buzzing that is experienced with some of these devices. I experienced a TV production using one near home, with repeated takes meaning a drone was back and forth several times; irritating to say the least.
Like electric cars, ‘battery range anxiety’ is an issue; how long can my patrolling drone remain in the air? In that case, do I have a number of drones that become the first responder to an alarm on the fence line? This is probably the most useable option, where a drone or drones could deploy to the site of an alarm and one could follow a suspect on foot with GPS referencing to aid ground assets to home in. A user interface then enables live feed imagery to further assist with an operation. We need to consider the careful development and implementation of such intelligent systems, to ensure we get the due diligence right. The rights of the individual are clearly adhered to with DPA compliant use of image capture and use, and Arnie doesnโt come knocking on your door any time soon!
