Halving analysis time increases conviction rates on Humberside
The challenge
The Humberside Police Technical Support Unit, based in Hull, handles analysis of all CCTV and photographic evidence. CCTV footage comes from premised-based CCTV, covert operations and two trials of head-mounted cameras. With video evidence amounting to thousands of hours a month, Humberside TSU turned to Scyron’s intelligent surveillance and analysis solutions.
- Increased targetted surveillance footprint
- Time spent reviewing video slashed by at least 50%
- Less time spent in court
- More convictions
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The solution
With a finite number of officers, it was impossible for Humberside to keep watch on every suspect or known area targeted for crime. Where cameras captured evidence of criminal behaviour, it had to be sent physically to the TSU for conversion and analysis. Valuable time could be lost and a suspect freed on bail, only to abscond, in the time it took to receive the tape, read it and sift through hours of video to find a particular piece of evidence.
To get out of resources available, the TSU began working with Scyron solutions. DARC 50 gave the unit a remote-control surveillance solution that can monitor unattended and record automatically pre-defined incidents. It can provide real time alerts and be downloaded over secure WiFi or 3G networks.
“Before DEMON analyse, we used to have officers all day, every day reviewing tapes and disks. Now we can undertake a week’s worth of pattern analysis in an hour,” Gary Woolston, manager of the Humberside TSU
In combination with DEMON analyse, Humberside TSU has maximised its resources and managed to save thousands of hours of officer time – equating to a sizeable portion of its budget. “Before DEMON analyse, we used to have officers all day, every day reviewing tapes and disks. Unnecessary time spent analysing video footage may help criminals escape through the net. Now we can undertake a week’s worth of pattern analysis in an hour,” says Gary Woolston, manager of the Humberside TSU.
Operation Trapper showed the benefit of Scyron technology. It involved the covert surveillance of hooligans from local football clubs. DEMON detect enabled the automatic review and tagging of video evidence, reducing the time spent by officers searching for specific events.
The results
Scyron was able to help the police service present this evidence in court to secure convictions. Martin Steedman, evidence review officer, made extensive use of DEMON edit – an easy-to-use, comprehensive video editing package that removes the need to use expensive professional video suites. Steedman says: “Prior to any court trials we were able to present to indiviual defence teams the evidence we intended to present to a court and jury. This included an individual video of each suspect with thee suspect ringed, highlighting their actions.”
Faced with the power of evidence, only two suspects elected for trial at Crown Court. In all, a total of 40 convictions were secured.
The results of implementing new technology at Humberside have been impressive. “We have reduced the time spent reviewing tapes by a minimum of 50 percent,” concludes Woolston. But it is not simply the cost and time savings, it has made the entire process more effective which has led to more positive outcomes.
