Craig Mitchell, MD of OzSpy, said 77 per cent of respondents indicated they would feel safer while shopping, dining and doing business in public places if security cameras were installed.

“Considering that police resources are already stretched to the limit with the rising levels of violence, the increasing spate of armed robberies and other major criminal activity right around Australia, residents are growing more concerned about their safety while out in public,” he said.

According to Mitchell, 73 per cent of the survey’s national respondents felt that robbery of businesses has increased, and 67 per cent are seeing and hearing more accounts of violent robbery.

“While alarms are great deterrents, CCTV can provide evidence in the incidence of a robbery taking place,” Mitchell said. He said another thing working in retailers favours is the falling prices of sophisticated electronic surveillance equipment.

This has given business operators an opportunity to use surveillance technology to deter criminals and in the situation where a crime has been committed, the CCTV footage can provide critical evidence to assist in police prosecution of the offenders.

Mitchell said CCTV surveillance systems are a more economical means of deterring crime.

“With the available tax benefits, potentially lower insurance premiums and the resulting profit and productivity gains where camera surveillance is used, there is little reason for not acting now,” he said.

“Our stores across Australia have reported that business owners are using the approach of the end of financial year as an added reason to install high definition commercial CCTV and other camera systems ranging right through to basic but highly effective DIY systems.”

“Even our most advanced piece of surveillance equipment is now well within reach of the average retailer or business owner.”

The former security lead of one of Australia’s first large-scale CCTV deployments in Ipswich, Queensland, has credited the surveillance network for almost 10,000 convictions since 1994.

Despite academic papers to the contrary, Stacy Kirmos, the former security lead for Ipswich City Council’s Safe City Program, said CCTV systems allowed police to swiftly crack down on crime.

Kirmos said Ipswich’s CCTV network had garnered interest from CCTV operators from Britain, New York and law enforcement agencies in other Australian states.

He said he would take on opponents to CCTV as a crime fighting tool “head on”.

Kirmos’ comments came after reports of an agreement between Cisco and Chinese government contractor Hikvision Digital Technology that would see 500,000 CCTV cameras deployed in the Chinese city of Chongqing.

The ‘Peaceful Chongqing’ project will cover over 1,000 square kilometres of the province in China’s south west. Chongqing is home to approximately 12 million people.

Kirmos said systems were only effective if police were supplied with real-time video data and use of the technology is supported by relevant agencies and legislation.

“They do reduce crime,” Kirmos said. “But in many surveillance systems, operators don’t think how to utilise the images back in the control room – cameras don’t work on their own.”

The Ipswich CCTV network had led to almost 10,000 convictions from 15,000 arrests since its establishment in 1994, and had saved the Queensland Government millions in legal costs.

Three police stations – including the dispatch unit – were supplied with a CCTV video feed and could request control room operators to track persons of interest.

A Memorandum of Understanding had been signed between Ipswich Council and National ICT Australia (NICTA) to trial facial and behaviour recognition over the CCTV network.

“There are advantages in using software to help crime prevention, if you have the image bank to feed into the system.”

While it is dwarfed by the Chongqing network and London’s 750,000-strong London eye deployment, the Ipswich network could be a pilot for a Queensland-wide CCTV network.

An Australian Law Reform Commission report into the Federal Privacy Act found that surveillance technologies should only be required in public places.

“There should be no regulation of optical surveillance in public places — where individuals could expect to be observed”, the report said, but it recommended that “optical surveillance devices to observe people who would otherwise reasonably expect to be safe from observation be prohibited.”

“The ALRC recommended that there should be exceptions to the general prohibition on optical surveillance in private places, such as an exception for the use of an optical surveillance device by a person for the purpose of observing what, on reasonable grounds, appeared to be the commission of an offence, and an exception for the use of an optical surveillance device for law enforcement purposes.”

Next week senior executives of Telstra, who will be in attendance at the International CES Show in Las Vegas, will take a look at a pilot program that is being run by the giant US carrier Verizon according to sources.

The program that will be demonstrated at CES is based on a new IP based home monitoring and control system which is set to be part of a beta program in New Jersey.

The system will allows users to remotely view security cameras, lock doors, and control lights, thermostats, and appliances through a Smartphone or Tablet PC is delivered via what looks like a set top box.

While the system is sold by Verizon it still needs an installer which in Australia could see Telstra partnering with CEDIA members and electricians to install the technology with Telstra generating monthly rental for monitoring and data services.

In the USA the pilot homes will receive an energy reader, smart appliance switches and thermostats, door and window locks, a power strip, motion sensors, an indoor pan-and-tilt camera, and a fixed indoor / outdoor camera when the system launches next month.

According to Engadget the Verizon system will use Z-Wave wireless control units and Wi Fi security cameras.

According to sources Telstra and Verizon could end up using the same control box which is believed to be from 4Home a Company that was recently purchased by Motorola. 4Home has nothing to do with 4Home Entertainment which is an Australian Company.

John Chedid, the lord mayor of Parramatta, in New South Wales, wants increased CCTV coverage of the central shopping centre, reports the Parramatta Advertiser.

He also called for more uniformed police to patrol the area and a new shuttle bus service.

Lord Mayor Chedid told the news provider: “In recent years, council has devoted significant resources towards reversing negative perceptions of Parramatta to promote our local community as a safe … environment.”

He added that anecdotal evidence suggests people and business are becoming worried about anti-social behaviour.

The lord mayor put forward his suggestion on Monday November 29th, to counter the worries and perceptions that residents and visitors may have of the area.

Parramatta is located in south-eastern Australia and is a suburb of the country’s largest city, Sydney.

Posted by Roger Isaacson

The project, set up to manage six square kilometres of Darwin’s CBD, began after the Northern Territory (NT) Police, Fire and Emergency Services Department awarded the contract to Darwin-based security company, Security and Technology Services (STS).

Managing 109 closed circuit TV cameras initially proved troublesome for the NT Police, which often experienced power outages resulting from lightning strikes as well as the transmission of high definition video streams from cameras to three police stations and a fourth remote storage facility.

Adelaide based network company MIMP was chosen by STS to deliver a highly redundant, high performance 128-bit data encrypted wireless network to integrate Darwin’s central camera system.

STS project manager, Greg Ireland, said the network has helped to alleviate a number of issues in the Top End since it was deployed in December 2009.

“It has helped to solve problems that range from recovering stolen property, dealing with assaults and vandalism to identifying multiple persons on different occasions with concealed weapons, which enabled us to direct police to intercept these persons before incidents occurred,” he said.

NT Police CCTV project administrator, Shane Moten, said the network has actively reduced the number of incidents on Darwin’s streets.

“Since the system has been live, we have generated hundreds of additional incidents that we might otherwise have missed,” he said. “As the video operators become more experienced with identifying developing problems, they are able to proactively look for certain things at hotspots for anti-social behaviour and alert police to intervene before a situation becomes bigger.”

The deployment comes as rain and bad weather delayed the commencement of fibre installation between Darwin and Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory earlier this year.

Lisa Banks

Project manager STS selected network specialist MIMP to design and deploy Australia’s first multicast mesh IP-based wireless network, with the ability to self-heal any points of failure and to survive lightning strikes.

Since the Darwin Street Camera wireless network was deployed in December 2009, it has successfully transported hundreds of gigabytes of video data each day without any major disruptions or outages.

“We chose MIMP based on their previous experience and the fact that they’d delivered similar projects elsewhere,” said STS Managing Director Greg Ireland. “We also chose MIMP for a similar project in Alice Springs, which says a lot about what we think of them.”

Business problem: Managing 109 closed circuit TV cameras in the demanding Darwin climate

In 2009, the Northern Territory Government and the Australian Government committed $8.612 million to establish a Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) system to equip NT Police to monitor and reduce anti-social behaviour on the streets of Darwin.

After a competitive tender, the NT Police Fire and Emergency Services Department chose Darwin-based security company Security & Technology Services (STS) to deliver the project.

The Darwin Street Camera project required STS to integrate 47 existing CCTV cameras deployed at “hotspots” – mass passenger transport systems as well as bus interchanges – with 62 new Pan, Tilt & Zoom cameras. These cameras are installed at popular congregation points at Casuarina, Palmerston and Darwin.

Due to the prohibitive cost of connecting all the cameras with fibre optic cable, STS needed a highly reliable wireless network to allow NT Police personnel to monitor the 109 cameras, control them remotely and record high-resolution vision of any incidents that are of a quality fit for use in a court for prosecution purposes.

Major challenges of transmitting high definition video streams from the cameras to three police stations – plus a fourth remote storage facility – were to avoid network congestion from the large volume of data traffic and to eliminate the risk caused by single points of failure.

The demanding Top End environment delivered difficulties including high year-round heat and humidity plus thousands of lightning strikes a day during the turbulent Wet Season. Another issue was vandalism.

STS selected Australian network specialist MIMP connecting solutions to design and deliver the highly redundant, high performance wireless network to integrate the Darwin Street Camera system. STS also deployed an optical fibre ring network to augment the system’s high-capacity wireless backhaul.

MIMP solution: Australia’s first multicast mesh wireless network

To meet the demanding Darwin climate and operational challenges, MIMP decided the wireless network needed to be self-healing, so it would keep working if part of the network went offline.

MIMP searched internationally to identify the best self-healing network architecture for the Darwin Street Camera project, which covers a total of six square kilometres.

MIMP selected network equipment from Strix Systems, a US-based global leader in wireless mesh networking. The Strix Access/One Outdoor Wireless System is a modular, in-the-field upgradable system that delivers high throughput and low latency levels.

Strix technology provides high redundancy by using a multicast mesh structure with self-healing capabilities to optimise performance and availability. Multicast mesh is a highly distributed network model where any device can accept and pass on a data packet, even if it’s not on the shortest path from sender to receiver. This rich connectivity maintains data delivery even when devices or even parts of the network became unavailable.

With 128-bit data encryption for security, the system also uses a multi-subnet architecture to route video data streams over diverse data paths via multiple subnetworks. This design effectively created three standalone mesh networks with a fibre backbone.

MIMP General Manager Allan Aitchison said the multicast mesh structure gave the Darwin wireless network both resilience and redundancy. “To our knowledge, this is the first multicast mesh network in Australia,” he said.

“A multicast mesh network provides the richest connectivity and is very robust, because it self-heals if devices disappear off the network. By designing the network so each device accepts messages, even if the device is not on the shortest path from a camera to the police station, it routes data around any disrupted areas, so there’s no single point of failure. Further robustness is added by the use of multiple subnets, so the second and third subnets can continue operating even if one area goes down.”

Mr. Aitchison said the Strix equipment also handled the demanding Darwin environment including heat, humidity, lightning and vandalism. “Strix equipment is in the highest category for handling lightning strikes,” he said.

“Lightning is a huge issue in Darwin during the Wet, when there are as many as 3000 strikes a day, which all tend to hit the top of buildings. As well as lightning protection in the antenna and the equipment itself, Strix wireless units have a heat shield over the radio unit, which also protects them from vandalism.”

MIMP designed, configured and tested the network at its Adelaide head office before sending it to Darwin where it was installed by STS. MIMP technicians then commissioned the network, which went live in December 2009.

Business benefits: High performance CCTV network allows more proactive policing

Installation of the CCTV system was funded under the Territory Government’s Anti-social Behaviour Initiative and the Australian Government’s Safer Suburbs Plan. As well as the MIMP-designed multicast mesh network, STS chose an IP-based camera system from Scottish IP video security specialist IndigoVision.

The CCTV system is operated by a dedicated police monitoring team located in a real-time CCTV control room at the Joint Emergency Services Communications Centre in Berrimah. As well as video data being recorded at this secure remote data storage facility, surveillance capabilities are available at police stations in Casuarina, Darwin and Palmerston.

Cameras are monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Each day, the 109 cameras deliver hundreds of gigabytes of new vision for storage at two locations, one of which is a central repository with 30 terabytes of data storage. Most video data is destroyed after 30 days, although some is retained as evidence for police investigations and prosecutions.

NT Police CCTV Project Administrator Shane Moten said the CCTV network had assisted police to more proactively manage and reduce anti-social behaviour on the streets of Darwin. “Since the system has been live, we have generated hundreds of additional incidents that we might otherwise have missed,” he said.

“It has helped to solve problems that range from recovering stolen property, dealing with assaults and vandalism to identifying multiple persons on different occasions with concealed weapons, which enabled us to direct police to intercept these persons before incidents occurred.

‘As the video operators become more experienced with identifying developing problems, they are able to proactively look for certain things at hotspots for anti-social behaviour and alert police to intervene before a situation becomes bigger.”

STS Managing Director Greg Ireland said the MIMP multicast mesh network had been a critical part of the CCTV system’s success. “The NT Police are very happy with the system,” he said.

“The CCTV system has proved to be very user-friendly. It also provides them with high quality images that they have been able to use to reduce anti-social behaviour and improve community safety.

“We chose MIMP based on their previous experience and the fact that they’d delivered similar projects elsewhere. We had good feedback on the reputation of their company. While it’s fair to say you always have some teething problems, MIMP’s commitment to solving those problems has been very good.

“We also chose MIMP for a similar project in Alice Springs, which says a lot about what we think of them.”

Two women were believed to have been attacked by the same man, who appeared to be operating out of stations along the Joondalup train line.

A 25-year-old woman was walking the few hundred metres from Glendalough train station to her home around 6.30pm on Tuesday when she noticed a man following her, police said.

Sex assault squad Detective Sergeant Jim August said the woman was then chased by the attacker, who grabbed her as she got to the door of her apartment.

“She’s screamed, and as a result a friend in the unit has observed what’s been going on, he’s gone out and she’s then managed to escape,” Detective August said.

The offender, who climbed over a large wall and fled, was described as being in his late 20s, 170 centimetres tall with short hair that was long at the back. He was wearing a black short-sleeved shirt and dark-coloured jeans.

Detective August said footage from the Public Transport Authority’s CCTV system showed the man then returning to Glendalough station and catching a train to Edgewater station, where he arrived at 7pm.

“A male person has left the train station prior to a female who’s exited the train. She’s left to the Heathridge side, she’s got to her vehicle, parked in Ellendale drive, she’s been approached by the male, told that he has a firearm and told to get in the car,” he said.

The 21-year-old student was then sexually assaulted before the attacker fled. She drove home and called police.

Detective August could not say whether the offender was the same man who raped a 33-year-old woman in similar circumstances on Monday because CCTV footage from that attack was not clear.

Officers had been monitoring Edgewater station’s CCTV cameras after Monday’s attack and had an increased police presence at the station, Detective August said.

“The police were there for a period of time up until the incident occurred, in the area of the Edgewater train station and surrounding businesses, but on the site of where the incidents occurred I can’t confirm that there was a police presence there,” he said.

Prior to Monday’s assault, the 33-year-old woman had got off a train at 6.15pm and was talking on her mobile phone when she was grabbed from behind and dragged into bushes behind the car park.

“This one is nasty, just the time of the attack – in daylight – obviously there’s a huge opportunity for this person to be observed during the attack and a high chance he could have been caught, given the location and the time of day,” Detective August said.

The attacker was described as being between 25 and 30 years old, 175-180 centimetres tall, of medium build, with short dark hair. He was wearing a reflective orange shirt and dark pants.

Acting Superintendent Paul Steel said there would be a heightened police presence at train stations, on trains, and that a mobile police station set up at Edgewater station from 2pm would be distributing with pictures of the offender.

He urged commuters to remain vigilant, be aware of their surroundings and to travel in groups if possible.

The Public Transport Authority’s security services manager Steve Furmedge said Perth’s train system was watched by 1200 cameras, making it the most extensive CCTV network in Australia and the largest internal security force across any transport system.

He said women who felt unsafe could ask transit officers to escort them to their vehicles.

The Metropolitan Cemeteries Board has installed a $100,000 CCTV network covering graves and parking areas at Karrakatta Cemetery in Perth’s western suburbs, after a surge in stealing offences and thefts from cars.

Police are also covertly patrolling the cemetery to hunt out thieves after 64 thefts were reported in the last financial year.

If the CCTV proves effective, it will be considered for other metropolitan cemeteries, including Fremantle and Pinnaroo Valley Memorial Park.

The only other cemetery in WA fitted with cameras is believed to be Broome’s historic Japanese cemetery, where the local shire spent more than $25,000 on a sophisticated CCTV system to catch would-be offenders.

Cemeteries board spokesman Andrew Fox said cameras had been installed throughout the Karrakatta grounds in a final attempt to curb thefts.

“We felt we had done everything else. This was a last-ditch attempt,” Mr Fox said.

“People operate on a hallowed grounds perception but it’s no different to going to Karrinyup Shopping Centre and leaving your laptop in your car.

“People seem to think they’re immune to crime because this is a cemetery. This is opportunistic crime when people are at a funeral service or visiting a grave.”

Mr Fox said the number of thefts were expected to increase with the Perth Royal Show starting next weekend.

Acting Sen-Sgt Stuart Larsen, from Subiaco police station, said uniform officers had increased patrols around the area while plain-clothes officers were keeping watch for suspicious behaviour.

“It’s a sad indictment on society when people are stealing from cemeteries and quite often (stealing from) vulnerable, emotional people,” Sen-Sgt Larsen said. “CCTV is a good deterrent, plus it collates good evidence for police if we lay charges.”

Sen-Sgt Larsen said people visiting gravesites should be mindful criminals were seeking to capitalise, and he urged them not to leave valuables in cars or vehicles unlocked.

All Karrakatta Cemetery staff have been also trained in the police “Eyes on the Street” awareness program.

A warning sign will also be erected next weekend to warn showgoers of the spike in stealing crimes.

coxn@sundaytimes.newsltd.com.au

The NRL is continuing its investigation into allegations that Canterbury player Ryan Tandy placed bets on a Cowboys penalty goal to be the first scoring play and then deliberately knocked on and conceded a penalty.

TAB officials have revealed that 95 per cent of the bets on the Bulldogs-Cowboys match were for a penalty goal to be the first scoring play.

There are suggestions police will be asked to assist the NRL in its investigation.

TAB Sportsbet spokesman Glenn Munsie said his organisation would hand over betting lists and CCTV vision of punters placing bets on the game. NRL officials are also looking at betting trails surrounding the match and any links to NRL players.

“We will hand over all our information to the NRL,” Munsie said.

“They have asked that we provide a list of bets and CCTV surveillance of anyone placing the bets.

“There will be CCTV vision from inside the TABs.”

Asked which TABs, Munsie said: “I can’t tell you that.

“But we know where the bets were placed. They were taken all over Australia.”

The plunge tightened the penalty goal option from $13 into $7.

“The alarm bells started to ring,” Munsie said.

“There was an unusual amount of bets on that one particular betting option, which was a penalty goal.

“Ninety-five per cent of the bets were for that option, which is just not normal.”

A former NRL coach told The Daily Telegraph that players often bet with credit but do not have the money to cover the wagers.

“Then when the player can’t pay up, the bookie goes to the club demanding the money,” the former coach of a Sydney club said. “It happens all the time.”

NRL chief operating officer Graham Annesley was reluctant to say if police would be included in its investigation.

“At this stage, we are not jumping to any conclusions.”

www.foxsports.com.au

The man, aged in 30s, was caught on CCTV hanging around the customer service office of the Melbourne Central station for about 20 minutes before 10pm (AEST) on Saturday.

When two Metro Trains staff leave the area, the robber is seen entering the office, stealing cash from the till.

Then when staff discover him, he reveals a handgun and flees.

Transit police Senior Constable Nova Graham on Sunday said it was a brazen act during a busy time at the station.

“There’s some pretty good CCTV footage so we’re just relying on the public to contact Crime Stoppers and hopefully help us identify this male,” she said.

While the gunman is clearly seen on the station’s CCTV, he was not picked up in the viewing catchment of Melbourne’s Safe City cameras – designed to film people in the city’s crime hotspots in a bid to tackle crime.

Police cordoned off the area and trains were delayed while officers searched for the man.

He’s described as Caucasian, aged about 30, 182cm tall, with red-blonde shoulder length hair and short cropped beard. He was wearing a green windcheater and cargo pants.