Synectics platform used for London borough surveillance upgrade

Two London boroughs have selected Synectics' Synergy 3 command and control platform as part of significant upgrade projects to enhance public space surveillance capabilities.

The boroughs of Bromley and Merton in England have a collective population of over half a million, making public safety a priority and a challenge. Both face unique demands on resources. As London's biggest borough, efficient and effective monitoring of large geographic areas is essential for Bromley's surveillance team. In Merton – the only London borough served by tube, train and tram services – public safety in and around transport links is a key objective.

Synergy Solution
Upgrading to Synergy 3 supported both boroughs in achieving their aims by enabling greater levels of integration, enhancing viewing and recording capabilities, aiding incident response, and ensuring future scalability.

"From the control hub we monitor over 200 cameras - a mix of analog and IP - 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It's a tough challenge, which means we are always looking at ways we can support the surveillance team and utilize our technology more efficiently and effectively. We knew that upgrading to an open platform solution that could facilitate greater levels of integration with existing systems would be key to this," said William Ogg, CCTV Manager for the London borough of Bromley.

Bromley Solution
Two separate systems are currently in place for recording footage from public space cameras, and for controlling those cameras. With the upgrade, Synergy 3 brought together these two systems in a single unified environment to ensure that operators can immediately react to footage with responsive camera control.

Bromley also benefited from a new display wall, including an interactive screen that will display customizable information such as changing threat levels and local news alerts that may require surveillance support.

"We are new to Synectics so we're keen to see what their technology could offer. We actually had a Synergy 3 demo system installed so that we could see the opportunities for improvement ourselves. The difference was clear, and we could immediately understand how features such as the incident collaboration tools, and interactive mapping engine with Geospatial Information System (GIS) technology could really help us to enhance detection and response capabilities," continued William.

Merton Solution
In Merton, Synergy 3 is also playing a key role in the councils' integrated approach to borough-wide surveillance support. This solution enabled Merton Council to unify monitoring and control of separate systems including fixed and re-deployable Public Space Surveillance (PSS) cameras, Traffic Enforcement and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras, and Body Worn Video (BWV).

"The Synergy 3 system will represent a huge upgrade on our current system. As well as integrating all of our cameras and recording systems, the reporting features also mean we will easily be able to analyse exactly why, how and how often cameras are used in relation to incidents. This demonstrates best practice and is an approach integral to the Information Commissioner's Office CCTV Code of Practice," said Tom Davis, Parking & CCTV Infrastructure Manager for the London Borough of Merton.

Merton also has a number of remote site systems, such as the Garth Road waste center, which enabled operators to view, monitor and control cameras from the central control room.