CCTV in the Park

The Coliseum Leisure and Retail Park on the outskirts of Ellesmere Port is one of the real success stories to emerge from the out-of-town leisure phenomenon. Constructed on a brown field site in 1998, the vast Leisure Park is owned by The Leisure Fund Ltd and complements the retail portion of The Coliseum presided over by Equitable Life. The latter – dubbed The Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet – hosts no less than 140 stores run by label brands including Ben Sherman, Calvin Klein, Gap, Karen Millen, Tommy Hilfiger... all of them offering top quality designer clothing at discount prices.

For post-retail therapy and nourishment, customers can make their way to the Leisure Park and enjoy the trappings of a 15-screen cinema complex complete with seven restaurants and bars – among them Frankie and Benny’s, Old Orleans, Nando’s, Bella Italia, Chiquitos and a brand new Prezza. Or you can go bowling at the Cheshire Oaks MegaBowl or dance the night away with a few after-hours drinks at the Destiny and Elite nightclubs.

The management of both the Leisure and Retail Parks is entrusted to Donaldson’s, whose main priority is to ensure that visitors enjoy their stay. A cornerstone of this strategy is the on-site, purpose-built Security Control Centre housing the Control Room for the site’s CCTV system (itself installed when the Coliseum complex first opened). Over the life of its operation – and in addition to the system being superseded by rapid advancements in surveillance technology – the original camera installation has proven to offer only limited use for site management purposes. In addition, certain surveillance ‘blind spots’ had become apparent in the site’s overall visual coverage.

That ‘gap’ in the original system’s coverage had resulted in occasional anti-social and criminal behaviour escaping the watchful eyes of the security staff. If an incident was detected, subsequent events may not always have been monitored and would therefore pass by ‘un-tracked’ – rendering any consequent attempted prosecution difficult to progress due to a lack of available visual evidence.

Securing the solution

The Leisure Fund Ltd partnership entrusts Coliseum customers’ safety to Strata Security, who themselves worked hand-in-glove with Panasonic Premier Integrator Reflex Systems of South Yorkshire to fulfil its objective of better site management thanks to a significantly upgraded surveillance system.

Following a comprehensive audit of the site and much collaboration with Mike Jeffries (operations manager at The Coliseum Leisure and Retail Park), Steve Ward – project director at Reflex – specified a mixed camera solution.

WV-CW864A domes have now been installed right across the site to deliver an economic surveillance package, while still allowing system operators to effectively monitor and archive video footage of incidents in progress for use in prosecutions.

Given that the WV-CW864A units’ integrated housings have been specifically developed for ‘all weather’ outdoor use, this model was felt to be the ideal choice for coverage of The Coliseum Leisure and Retail Park’s external grounds. Super Dynamic II technology, day/night switching mode and 510 TV lines resolution permit highly effective observation in outdoor lighting conditions as low as 0.03 lux. This high performance specification enables The Coliseum’s CCTV operators to identify individuals whatever the hour.

Camera images are transmitted to the system’s aforementioned on-site Control Room. Equipped with WV-CM1780 17” colour monitors and a WJ-HD316A 16-channel hard disk digital video recorder – itself programmed to record 120 images per second – the Control Room allows operators to review crystal clear images of any incidents captured, making for much easier identification of incidents and the individuals involved in them.

Video playback and review is intuitively controlled via a WV-CU650CJ/B controller that also manages the system’s WJ-SX150A camera matrix. The controller caters for changing operator shifts, employing an ambidextrous joystick, intuitive user-assignable controls and programmable pre-set modes.

This type of set-up benefits individual operators as they can select their own bespoke system functionality leading to smooth, seamless shift changeovers.

The Coliseum Leisure and Retail Park’s Control Room deploys only Security Industry Authority (SIA)-licensed operators. Using only SIA-qualified operators continues The Coliseum’s business ethic of ensuring that Best Practice standards are both applied and adhered to at all times.

In combination with the Panasonic-based CCTV set-up, Mike Jeffries and his team are able to gain an effective overview of any potential or actual incident, supplying invaluable back-up for the security staff on the ground. Jeffries explains: “It has always been a top priority for me to secure SIA-driven qualifications and licences for all of our CCTV operators. It guarantees that they are all properly trained to deal with incidents as and when they arise, and also ensures that all monitoring staff observe correct day-to-day practice.”

Detection rates on the rise

Once a defendant realises that his or her actions have been recorded in high quality digital video, ready for playback in Court, any decision to plead Not Guilty tends to be quickly revised

The new surveillance system now affords uncompromised monitoring of the Leisure and Retail Park (including the exteriors of all business units, their rear-facing service areas, a large car parking area, all interior roadways and most arterial roadways).

Post-installation, the detection of incidents of unsociable and occasionally criminal behaviour has increased. All incidents are being dealt with far more efficiently by the Park’s security staff on mobile patrol (with assistance from the additional presence of on-site police employed during busy weekend evenings). “Any incidents we may experience on weekend evenings usually escalate from a disagreement in the taxi queue when revellers are returning home from the nightclubs,” states Mike Jeffries. “Using the surveillance powers they now have at their disposal, my experienced CCTV operators can read individuals’ body language, alerting our staff on the ground to situations early in their proceedings – allowing quick and efficient diffusing before the incident escalates.”

Mike and his team of operators can also monitor vehicles on and off the site due to strategic camera placement and the leading-edge technology offered by the new system. This is particularly useful when local youths gather at the site of an evening with their vehicles. Adds Jeffries: “Large groups of cars not only pose the problem of absorbing our car parking facilities, but they also lead to ‘vehicle performance comparisons’ that often involve higher speeds than we set as the limit for the complex. The new CCTV installation allows our team members to spot and then monitor these situations, dealing with them before they escalate to unmanageable levels.”

CCTV: the business dynamic

The high performance CCTV system serving The Coliseum Leisure and Retail Park not only exists to protect members of the public, but is also invaluable to the businesses within the facility as well.

“We often receive calls from resident businesses whose staff have identified members of the public acting suspiciously in or around their premises,” continues Jeffries. “For example, a member of staff from one of the complex’s restaurants may call the Control Room, informing the team that they suspect certain customers might be about to leave the premises without paying. We can then assist by focusing cameras on the exits of the restaurant so that we can capture would-be ‘runners’ and retain a high quality video image that can then be used for evidential purposes.”

There have also been instances of camera tracking whereby ‘runners’ have been linked with a particular vehicle from which the police have later identified and apprehended them. Jeffries chips in again.

“We have also recorded occasions of restaurant employees stealing spirits and other high value items from their employer. They have used the rear entrance of premises to try and smuggle items out of the building, wrongly believing that they couldn’t be seen. Thanks to the fantastic resolution and playback quality of the new surveillance systems, we are not merely able to identify the employee but usually the individual items they may have stolen, too – making for a water-tight case.”

Liaison with local police

Control Room CCTV operators have also foiled attempts to steal drums of cooking oil from the complex's restaurants – the motivation for theft in this instance being driven by the fact that, when refined, said oil can be used as fuel for diesel vehicles.

When incidents such as this are detected and evidence is required for further prosecution, security operatives based at The Coliseum liaise directly with the local police, providing time and date-stamped evidential video via a bespoke WJ-HD316A 16-channel digital recording system for submission to the Courts of Law.

End user and security professional Mike Jeffries comments: “Once a defendant realises that his or her actions have been recorded in high quality digital video, ready for playback in Court, any decision to plead Not Guilty tends to be quickly revised. This has proven to be invaluable, saving Court time and a substantial amount of tax payers’ money.”

Daily usage of the system also fulfils a simple public service role. “We have had instances of cars rolling very slowly across the car park when drivers have failed to apply the handbrake correctly,” asserts Jeffries.

“Certain areas of the car park have a slight gradient, and customers have actually been observed walking away from their vehicle as it rolls slowly downhill! Our vigilant CCTV operators are therefore able to spot vehicle movements and then immediately alert ground staff so that they can tackle the problem. A rather nice additional bonus.”