High Definition CCTV images will make public disorder convictions easier, says Oprema MD

Though there has been some negative talk about how the police are handling the riots in London and across the UK, the improvements in CCTV and the progression of high definition imagery will be the key to the conviction rate in public disorder incidents.

It is without doubt that the police and security services in the UK are here to keep property and people safe at all times, but the scenes witnessed in boroughs of London and other UK cities over the last few nights are distressing and difficult to manage with limited numbers of police in riot gear and other emergency services against the large numbers of hooded and masked faces running riot.

The Metropolitan police today are using online tools like Flickr to post the faces of people involved in the looting and disorder. The imagery is so clear that it is impossible for people to hide away.

This is the future of CCTV and surveillance in public areas. Many systems are still using analogue systems that are unclear and grainy in effect.

Though still effective, when monitoring crowds these systems would not give the absolute evidence that will be required to get a high conviction rate and stop future rioters from thinking twice.

Effective conviction
High definition cameras are the only way to effectively convict and stop these people from offending again.

The public are generally not aware of the clarity of products such as Avigilon that can capture a whole street scene and have the ability to break up one image in to specific areas which would enable the capture of multiple faces caught in the act.

And consider Rapid Deployment kits; these are camera kits in backpacks that can be set up anywhere to quickly act in blind spots or for extra camera support and could be crucial to support investigations.

So as the unrest continues and the media or public are looking to the police for instant reaction, arrests and prosecutions, we can only hope that camera technology will prove more valuable than ever to the service and to the public.

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