The New South Wales government will begin a big switchover to high definition surveillance cameras as part of an extensive upgrade of surveillance technology across all modes of public transport. The government will upgrade the Sydney Trains surveillance contract over the next 12-18 months to implement far more adva
The New South Wales government will begin a big switchover to high definition surveillance cameras as part of an extensive upgrade of surveillance technology across all modes of public transport.
The government will upgrade the Sydney Trains surveillance contract over the next 12-18 months to implement far more advanced technology across buses, light rail, ferries and associated stations in addition to upgrading surveillance cameras on the state rail network.
Apart from upgrading the surveillance network to HD, the tender is scoping other modes of crime prevention including sensor-detection technology to prevent trespassing and graffiti – offences that have often resulted in the accidental deaths of people illegally spray painting rail corridors and trains.
The scale of the upgrade of the surveillance network is substantial, with potentially 10,000 units set for replacement across the public transport network.
Industry will undoubtedly welcome the new spending, but the move from old, lower resolution analogue video to a digital HD format is of great significance to investigators as they can quickly locate and review far greater volumes of footage with greater ease.
Despite the upgrade, state railway operator Sydney Trains has praised the performance of the existing ageing surveillance network as run by the Police Transport Command (PTC).
Sydney Trains chief executive Howard Collins said the surveillance network helps to observe incidents across train lines and “catch criminals in the act”.
“So far the PTC has conducted 470 operations, handed out more than 76,000 infringements, laid more than 3,900 arrests and 7400 charges since starting on the network in May 2012,” Collins said.