Wigan town centre is also said to have more clubs and bars than any other north-western town and so requires real-time monitoring to ensure any problems don’t escalate.
Genie CCTV supplied a variety of equipment including dome cameras, mini domes and DVRs.
The new control room is a contrast to its former, cramped surroundings.
The large suite is dedicated to public space surveillance but also handles commercial contracts for operations including bus and rail stations, car parks and offices.
Overseeing the specification of equipment for the control centre were the council’s principal officers, Tony Hollinrake and Terry Bolton.
They trialled different systems under live monitoring conditions and took into account staff feedback before making a decision on equipment.
A total of 20 Genie LM-19 Pro TFT LCD 19-inch professional units are being used around the clock “proving excellent value and a fantastic investment for us,” said Hollinrake.
The list also includes VRCD-5351 day/night external vandal resistant dome cameras and GSD-5451 mini PTZ dome cameras offering a 10x optical zoom.
Also in operation are GDVR160 16-channel Quadraplex MPEG4 DVRs, LG 16-channel Pentaplex LE3116D DVR, offering up to 4Tb of internal storage capacity, and the EDVR4 4-channel Triplex DVR.
The system surveillance coverage includes Wigan, Leigh, Atherton and Golborne.
The council’s two principle officer are also proprietors of security design and consultancy provider Bespoke Security Solutions which offers risk management, design and consultancy, project management and installation services, based on their combined 30 years-plus experience.
Their client list includes Carillion, Deutsche Bank, Virgin Media, Unilever and other blue-chip companies such as Centrica.
“As a result of this rigorous evaluation exercise, Genie’s monitors were declared by our operators to be clearer in terms of definition and clarity than a number of rival products that we also tested out,” said Hollinrake.
Binit Shah, marketing manager, Genie CCTV, said: “We’re delighted that Wigan council has given us such a glowing endorsement of our equipment.”
