Enhancing public safety with a unified view
Oxford is home to over 150,000 residents and two major universities in the United Kingdom. Using Security Center, the Oxford City Council upgraded to IP video surveillance, expanded coverage around the city, and centralized public safety operations to speed up incident response.
The company
Internationally renowned as one of the UK’s most picturesque cities, Oxford welcomes around 7 million tourists every year. The city is home to over 150,000 residents, with 33,430 students enrolled in full-time studies across two universities. While Oxford has always been thriving, its public safety infrastructure was lagging far behind.
The challenge
Oxford City Council’s (OCC) legacy analogue CCTV system had outlived its purpose and was proving expensive to maintain. Alongside several faults in the video management system, more than 50% of cameras in public spaces were down. The older technology could not support high-definition cameras and sourcing compatible hardware was becoming increasingly difficult. These limitations hampered the city’s ability to assist the emergency services team during incident response.
The solution
Intuitive and scalable video monitoring
After upgrading to Security Center, the OCC extending video monitoring to the Oxford Indoor Market and all cameras within the public realm. OCC could also now deploy a range of panoramic and 360-degree cameras, easily viewing them through a single intuitive interface.
Reduced bandwidth and upgrade costs
Using built-in bandwidth-saving features within Security Center, the OCC has been able to keep transferring video feeds from some housing estates to the control center over existing broadband connections. This has eliminated the costs associated with having to install new fiber optic cables.
A unified view across Oxfordshire
Moving forward, there is a desire to align the four big CCTV systems in Oxfordshire by deploying the Genetec Federation™. This would allow operators to manage public safety across the entire county from one location, further simplifying operations, breaking down siloes, and reducing costs.
“Genetec has helped to transform our operations and has given us a solid foundation from which to build. Now that we have a platform that can link all these technologies, we can bring them all into one centralized view.”
Gwen Devine, Community Safety Officer, Oxford City Council
Results
Deploying modern public safety technology has had a direct impact on the OCC’s ability to respond to serious threats and catch criminals. Clearer images and streamlined processes for viewing, analyzing, and sharing digital evidence have increased the chances for successful prosecutions.
In one case, the image quality was so clear that an accomplice to a violent crime was caught when trying to dispose of the evidence. Using Security Center, a skilled operator was able to track the individual as they departed the scene and bookmark the moment when they subtly dropped a weapon to the floor.