Malvern Hills District Council and The Francis Crick Institute – two very different organisations with very differing security requirements, but two clients who put their trust in body worn camera solutions. IFSEC Global speaks to B-Cam to find out why.
Worcestershire’s Malvern Hills District Council provides services for over 75,000 residents in an area of outstanding beauty that bounds onto the counties of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Shropshire, as well as the Worcestershire districts of Wychavon, Worcester and Wyre Forest.
The Council has been using Body Worn Video Camera’s (BWV) for many years amongst its civil enforcement officers and its community and environmental protection officers.
Elliott Nixon from Malvern Hills District Council explains: “BWV provides the officers with a level of safety when conversing and engaging with the public. Whenever an incident occurs, footage can again be viewed to provide more accurate witness statements and, if required, as evidence in court showing incidents in their real context.
“BWVs are also used by our environmental protection officers during their day-to-day work. BWV cameras allow for evidence collection when investigating fly tipping sites, abandoned vehicles, and when out on patrol engaging with dog owners. Any footage obtained is extremely useful when presenting in court, whereby a better context of the site can be seen first-hand, complementing any written statement made.”
The Francis Crick Institute is a biomedical research centre in London, a partnership between Cancer Research UK, Imperial College London, King’s College London, the Medical Research Council, University College London and the Wellcome Trust.
In 2016 the institute moved into a new state-of-the-art building in central London which brings together 1500 scientists and support staff working collaboratively across disciplines, making it the largest biomedical research facility under a single roof in Europe.
Iain Macpherson from The Francis Crick Institute explains its use of BWV: “The Francis Crick Institute is in the middle of three major transport hubs, St Pancras, Kings Cross and Euston. The area is always busy and the officers that patrol the area feel they have an extra layer of protection when wearing the body cams.
“BWV changes the behaviour of both the officers and the general public when they know they are being recorded, therefore reducing the risk of anti-social incidents. There is also the added benefit of having the evidence should an incident occur.”
B-Cam asserts it is the only body worn camera manufacturer to have Secured by Design (SBD) status, as well as being a member of the British Standards Institute and registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office. B-Cam is also an accredited member of Made in Britain, an accreditation which is awarded to businesses that sell goods that have been manufactured or have undergone a final substantial change in the United Kingdom before sale.
Richard Hupé, Managing Director from B-Cam, said: “We pride ourselves on building strong customer relationships and working closely with the end user of the camera and software to ensure ease of use and practicality.”
Secured by Design Development Officer, Lyn Poole, also added: “From licenced premises door staff, the ambulance service, NHS security guards, police officers across a whole range of organisations, it is the best method of proving what has happened in a situation, evidence which is indisputable.”
You can find out more about B-Cam and their SBD accredited B-Cam Compact Body Worn Camera Unit here.
SBD is part of Police Crime Prevention Initiatives (PCPI), a police-owned organisation that works on behalf of the Police Service to deliver a wide range of crime prevention and demand reduction initiatives across the UK. PCPI is a not-for-profit organisation and Board Members include senior police officers from each of the four Home Nations who control and direct the work PCPI carries out on behalf of the Police Service.
SBD plays a significant crime prevention role in the planning process to design out crime in a wide range of building sectors. It has achieved some significant success, including one million homes built to SBD standards with reductions in crime of up to 87%.
SBD has many partner organisations, ranging from the Home Office, Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government and the Police Service through to local authorities, housing associations, developers and manufacturers and work closely with standards and certification bodies to ensure that their publicly available standards actually meet the needs of the police and public alike.
Products must be subject to rigorous testing and additionally be fully certificated by an independent, third-party certification body accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) before being allowed to carry the SBD logo – this is the only way for companies to obtain police accreditation for security-related products in the UK.
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