‘Within the first two months of us going live with the system, we’ve found that it’s paid for itself in the time we’ve saved.’ Carl Patrick, Chief Superintendent, Cumbria Constabulary
Background
Bedroq has implemented, managed, and maintained CCTV services for Cumbria Constabulary for over 10 years. Cumbria Constabulary pride themselves on being early adopters of innovative technology – which meant this was an exciting project for Bedroq as they were open to exploring the use of the latest technologies and management solutions.
Time for an upgrade
Cumbria Constabulary covers the fourth largest geographic area in England and Wales, policing an area larger than the Met and five surrounding regional forces combined. The rural landscape of Cumbria means that communities are dispersed throughout the county. With a small force and a large area to police, Cumbria have a heavy reliance on their technology, for example, keep an eye on areas that aren’t physically patrolled.
Updating the CCTV and control room hardware, alongside the introduction of video analytics software, was crucial to Cumbria Constabulary keeping their standards of work high, allowing them to maintain and improve upon their accomplishments of creating safe environments across such a large geographic area. This latest contract ensures the longevity of the solution. Bedroq is a single point of contact for Cumbria, proactively repairing, managing, and monitoring the systems in place for the duration of the contract. Having the ability to manage the network remotely means that problems can be identified, managed, and resolved before they have an operational impact.
Improving through innovation
Bedroq’s solution is a fully managed service – using the latest technology in computing, servers, and CCTV cameras, backed up by the introduction of a new, fully-integrated software and analytics setup using Milestone, BriefCam, and Axon (Evidence.com).
The initial steps of the project involved introducing a cloud-based, virtual server design at the backend of their setup. This allows all the cameras to feedback to Bedroq’s Police Approved Secure Facility (PASF) data centre and Cumbria HQ. This initial setup means that video feeds from the updated CCTV network that can be accessed remotely from anywhere via secure internet access.
‘As a consequence of going with the cloud option, we’ve got a system that futureproofs us. It can scale as we need it to, and as a result of the up front work we’ve done we’ve probably got the highest standard of system out there.’ – Claire Head, Head of Business Development, DDaT, Cumbria Constabulary
Operational Impact
By working collaboratively in partnership and embracing innovation, Bedroq and Cumbria Constabulary have built a future-proofed system that has already made a huge operational impact. Chief Superintendent Carl Patrick was the project sponsor, and said:
‘We’ve saved thousands of hours of time already, and accelerated investigations. We’ve used it in rape cases, murders, and it’s been a real key tool for the investigation teams.’ – Carl Patrick, Chief Superintendent, Cumbria Constabulary.
Through the combination of state of the art cameras – providing higher quality images, at vast distances, at any time of day/night – with the best-in-class video analytic software from our partners, BriefCam, Cumbria Constabulary have been able to successfully make arrests and safeguard victims at a higher volume than they could prior to their CCTV upgrade. It has vastly improved their ability to review thousands of hours of footage, that would normally take multiple officers several days, in a matter of hours. This in turn allows for more efficient use of resources, enabling those same officers to review more footage, meaning more incidents are being reviewed, leading to more suspects convicted and lives saved.
Cumbria Constabulary’s new fully-integrated CCTV and video analytics system is completely flexible, allowing officers that are out on patrol to access video footage (both live and retrospective) remotely – via their work-commissioned laptop or mobile phone. This has created great efficiency, allowing officers to review footage and details while en route to an incident. This saves time having to travel back to HQ to review any footage, then having to make their way to the incident, or showing up to an incident without all the relevant information and context. Being able to instantly react to new information has helped Cumbria Constabulary to find several suspects and/or their vehicles. This kind of search may have previously taken weeks following an incident report, widening the gap in which useful evidence can be saved. By speeding up the review of CCTV footage, Cumbria have been able to achieve further safeguarding for more people in their communities.
‘The feedback from the staff on the ground is fantastic, they think it’s amazing. It’s saving them hundreds and hundreds of hours of time, but more importantly it’s enabling them to get the evidence that can convict suspects – and that’s the key driver for us.’ – Carl Patrick, Chief Superintendent, Cumbria Constabulary
Together, through their long-standing partnership, Cumbria Constabulary and Bedroq have created a cutting-edge system that enhances the operational efficiency, investigative capabilities, and public safety outcomes of Cumbria police. The system allows officers to access and analyse high-quality video footage from anywhere, anytime, and to quickly identify and locate suspects or vehicles of interest. This has resulted in faster arrests, more convictions, and more lives saved. Cumbria Constabulary and Bedroq are committed to continuing this successful collaboration and exploring new ways to leverage the power of CCTV and video analytics for the benefit of their communities.
