Streamlining city surveillance and evidence sharing
London Borough of Harrow recently launched a brand-new purpose-built control room. Find out how they are now better equipped to monitor and quickly respond to incidents and how they’re driving greater efficiency across evidence management processes.
The company
The London Borough of Harrow in North-West London covers an area of approximately 20 square miles and is home to more than 260,000 residents. It forms part of Outer London and shares borders with four other local authorities. As the countdown towards the 2025 deadline for the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) shut-off neared, the Council would need to move from an existing analogue video system to a more modern IP security platform.
The challenge
Rather than simply seeking a replacement, Harrow took the opportunity to consider long-term requirements. Following an assessment, Harrow decided that the existing control room, software, and cameras would all become increasingly challenging and costly to maintain. Ultimately, the current tech stack failed to meet the quality and reliability standards needed to uphold effective public safety and enforcement activities.
The solution
Unified and central control
Over 550 video streams come into the central control room. Using Security Center, operators can easily monitor video, respond to incidents, and gather evidence, which helps to secure various convictions.
Compliant evidence sharing
Since implementing Clearance™, Harrow has bolstered compliance with data protection regulations. They can specify viewing rights for different users, set time limits, or revoke access to evidence as required.
Automated privacy redaction
Using Clearance, operators can take advantage of automated privacy-masking features before instantly generating a link to the evidence that can be shared with third parties.
Purpose-built video infrastructure
Harrow Borough chose the Genetec Streamvault™ 300 series, a highly reliable infrastructure solution that has been purpose-built for demanding physical security applications.
“A lot of the time, the ultimate end user of our video surveillance systems is the police and council enforcement teams who need the evidence to prove a civil or criminal offence. We do all we can to support them and are delighted that Genetec Clearance is helping to dramatically reduce the associated workload.”
Ian Slaney, Head of CCTV services, London Borough of Harrow
Results
Since Genetec™ Security Center is an open-architecture platform, Harrow and DSSL were able to choose from a wide range of hardware partners. They now monitor all cameras through one familiar interface. This includes security cameras and the Borough’s automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras used for traffic management and enforcement.
“We want Harrow to be a safe place to live, work and visit – so I am pleased that we have invested in a brand-new state-of-the-art control room which is now better equipped to monitor and respond to incidents quickly. However, it’s not just about dealing with crime. It also allows us to analyze traffic management and major events. This is one of a few ways we are working towards our vision to restore pride in Harrow,” said Councillor Anjana Patel, Portfolio Holder for Highways, Infrastructure and Community Safety for the London Borough of Harrow.