A video system that allowed US special forces in Iraq to send back pictures instantly to intelligence organisations in Washington is being used to send CCTV pictures from town centres around Dorset to police HQ.
Dorset is believed to be the first force in the UK to use the technology which allows high quality images to be sent over existing communications networks for the first time. It has enabled Dorset police to send pictures directly into its control room from a number of towns and from the force helicopter as it attends incidents around the county.

In the future it could be used to send pictures of incidents to police personnel on the beat, in a car or in a helicopter, transmitting high resolution images to computer terminals, hand-held computers or the next generation of internet mobile phones.

The system, called Blue Watch, is from Essential Viewing of Glasgow.