Police, Camera, Action
Major retailers and shopping malls in the region are finding ever more imaginative ways to integrate CCTV with other business functions
In little more than a generation the Middle East has witnessed a major transformation of its infrastructure driven by oil wealth and associated economic development, and as part of this the roads network has expanded dramatically. Hundreds of miles of new highways and trunk roads are now being used on a daily basis, with a consequent requirement for effective enforcement measures.
There is also a strong reliance on a large migrant workforce from as far afield as the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Pakistan and North Africa, which means that as well as encouraging more responsible road use amongst the indigenous population, the authorities also have to contend with a diverse range of driving styles and licensing/testing procedures.
The need for enhanced roads policing in the region is underlined when we look at global league tables where the Middle East comes near the top (after Africa) for deaths caused by traffic accidents. According to WHO (World Health Organisation), fatalities run at 18 out of every 100,000 people. To put this into context, while 2005 figures show that the Middle East has 2% of the world’s motor vehicles, these accounted for 6% of road traffic accidents. Sadly, in the region there also tends to be a high proportion of single vehicle fatalities caused by excessive speed leading to a loss of control without other drivers being involved.
A digital approach
When it comes to mobile CCTV, the Middle East experience contrasts with countries like the UK where there has been a slow transition from analogue to digital recording technology amongst police forces. They have been held back in part by an unwillingness to retire older equipment and crucially have raised concerns regarding the different operational and training requirements that come with digital CCTV.
Locally, there are no such hurdles to overcome as forces in the region are by and large adopting CCTV in the context of roads policing for the very first time. They are therefore keen at the outset to bypass older analogue systems and go straight to more capable digital CCTV when trialling equipment and making final purchasing decisions.
From speaking to police officers and government officials on the ground the emphasis in the region is on improved traffic management and addressing excessive and inappropriate speed and other potentially dangerous driver behaviour.
Measuring speed
There are currently two main technologies used for capturing a vehicle’s speed – Vascar (Visual Average Speed Computer and Radar) and Radar. Vascar calculates average speed over a minimum distance, whereas with Radar the focus is very much on ‘spot’ speed. In both cases effective training is a prerequisite for efficient operation.
When applied correctly each technology is perfectly capable of delivering accurate speed measurements and, in association with digital video, compelling evidence which can be presented to an errant motorist at the roadside or if necessary in a court of law.
In the Middle East, the digital mobile CCTV system which has caught the attention of local police forces is Radar AutoVision. Once fitted in a police car, it is able to integrate accurate speed measurement with digital CCTV evidence of a target vehicle that has exceeded the speed limit or committed other traffic violations.
The Radar AutoVision system comes with a powerful colour/infrared wide angled camera with 18x optical zoom, BEE III mobile radar, ruggedised digital video recorder and a simple to operate robust handset.
In operation, with instantaneous fast-forward, rewind and 60-second pre-event facility, a police officer can either review the driving offences with a motorist at the scene of an incident or download specific events in the back office. Images are all overlaid with relevant data including security frame tagging, date, time, own vehicle and target vehicle speed.
Where legal action is being taken the video provided can help to highlight the specific driving offence such as tailgating. For a speeding infringement a jpeg image can be saved and printed to help qualify any fine being issued. To support image retrieval the Radar AutoVision comes with advanced video management software which allows users to readily select and copy images from the Radar AutoVision’s removable hard drive which can be swapped out for a clean one in minutes.
Crucially, the flexible Radar AutoVision can be used in a stationary or moving vehicle and to monitor offenders travelling towards or away from the police car.
‘ With fixed cameras, once in place, they tend to
catch a certain percentage of well defined offences,
but they struggle to address other forms of
dangerous driver behaviour such as lane changing
without signalling or using a mobile phone’
Mobile advantages
Police forces can unlock a number of major benefits when they select mobile as opposed to static CCTV solutions. With fixed cameras, once in place, they tend to catch a certain percentage of well defined offences, ie speeding, but the reality is that they struggle to address other forms of dangerous driver behaviour such as lane changing without signalling or using a mobile phone. With an in-car solution, officers are able to actively focus the attention of the system on a particular driver and obtain the evidence required for prosecution.
There is also the problem that once people know the position of static cameras they tend to alter their behaviour for a short time or avoid a particular route so shifting traffic safety problems elsewhere. Mobile systems, by contrast, can be used across the road network – often tied in with high profile safety campaigns – so drivers know that wherever they are there is the potential for a suitable equipped police vehicle to catch their transgressions. In-car CCTV can also be rapidly deployed – in marked or unmarked vehicles – at accident blackspots to address immediate problems.
Regional trials
Last year the Radar AutoVision mobile CCTV technology was selected by the Kuwait Police Department for a roads policing evaluation in their patrol cars.
The trial of Radar AutoVision, which was combined with an ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) capability, by the Kuwait Police followed on from interest expressed by Injifa Security Services, part of the Al Wazan Group of companies, based in Kuwait City who specialise in the supply of cars and equipment to the police and military in Kuwait.
Hasan Al Arabi, executive manager at Injifa, who saw TSS systems on display at the Intersec exhibition held in Dubai last year said: “We were looking for an advanced digital solution which could deliver the right level of performance for the Kuwait Police and were impressed with Radar AutoVision when we saw it during Intersec, giving us the confidence to put the TSS system forward for an intensive trail.Representatives from TSS have worked with us throughout the ongoing test, including travelling to Kuwait City for the initial installation, and a presentation to the Chief of Traffic Police.”
The Kuwait Police test is one of a number that TSS has undertaken with forces in the region, most notably in Bahrain, Dubai, Oman and Saudi Arabia. From discussions we are also finding that ANPR is becoming a favoured additional capability – provided the country has a reliable and up-to-date license plate database. The latest systems on the market now have the ability to accurately read Arabic script as well as Roman numerals.
Ultimately, digital mobile CCTV incorporating high accuracy speed measurement is going to become an increasingly important weapon for police forces in the Middle East to combat poor driver behaviour and excessive speed. The hope has to be that this type of action, combined with high profile publicity campaigns, will make motorists take a safer, more considered, approach to driving and so produce a downturn in road accident fatalities.
 For more information about TSS and its CCTV solutions visit www.tssltd.co.uk. Julian Cooke is international sales manager, Traffic Safety Systems (TSS)
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