Background
This is a case study of a Police force that is responsible for providing law enforcement services within a busy city and surrounding areas. It has four divisions plus headquarters.

This Police Force has a strategic plan in place not just to reduce crime and anti-social behavior, but also to reduce the fear of these crimes amongst the population.

They recognized that many of the crimes they needed to solve requiring intelligence-led policing techniques were drug-related. They included volume crimes such as domestic burglaries, commercial burglaries, distraction burglaries and crimes to fund drug habits, as well as the actual drug dealing.

The Challenge
Some properties in the area attracted a high number of repeat break-ins. In one example, it took 20 minutes for police to arrive each time a rural building was broken into. Although this was a fairly swift response, it was not quick enough to catch the criminals at the scene.

There were simply not enough resources on duty to cover the large geographical areas, and while intelligence was being received about activities of suspected criminals, the Police simply did not have the manpower to visit each suspect or investigate all the premises.

The Police decided to investigate the use of security cameras for covert surveillance and to build evidence for drug-related crimes.

In the past, the only solutions available for surveillance operations were using a car with microwave-linked cameras or using officers on the ground. These options were expensive: using officers on the ground for a 24-hour operation could cost upwards of $6,000.

The Police knew that while a camera could not prevent the crime, it could be used to gather intelligence that would accelerate the identification of criminals, support forensic evidence and ultimately speed-up their arrest.

The Solution

The Police chose Video Domain’s MemoCam® * for their covert surveillance operations as it provides a plug and play solution that can be deployed quickly & easily, requires minimal training before-hand, and could remain in the field for long periods without the need for ongoing maintenance. The low cost of MemoCam® allowed them to purchase a number of cameras for the same cost as just one surveillance operation.

* A MemoCam® is a covert hand-sized stand-alone CCTV system integrating high-quality Camera, DVR, Video Motion Detection (VMD) and PIR. Recording is triggered by dual-technology VMD and/or PIR, or external dry contact. “Events” are recorded on removable SD cards which can be read on any PC/pocket PC. MemoCam® has received prestigious security awards for excellence and innovation and is used by many Law Enforcement & Government agencies in USA and UK.

Following a successful trial of eight MemoCam® units, the Police invested in an additional 50 units, that are all in use at any one time on jobs that normally wouldn’t be dealt with because of lack of resources. Due to their success and efficiency, even more cameras are scheduled for deployment.

One of the divisional Technical Support Units has a team of four people trained to set up and use the MemoCam® units, which can be set up and fully operational in about half an hour.

A divisional Technical Support Unit officer said: “If I had 200 cameras, I could have them all out on operations immediately. It doesn’t matter how many MemoCam® units I received - they still wouldn’t satisfy the demand.”

The Benefits

A large amount of intelligence needs to be gathered before dedicating costly resources to a case. This process is always expensive and time-consuming. But with the MemoCam®, sufficient evidence can be gathered relatively quickly and cheaply, and on many more jobs.

For example, if the team suspects that a property is being used for dealing drugs, then a camera can be quickly & easily set up to record whether the property is being visited by an out-of-the-ordinary number of people.

The MemoCam® is often used to see where a criminal has been inside a property in order to show forensic officers where to look to get the most reliable evidence such as fingerprints, clothing samples or DNA. This intelligence is then used to make a positive identification that can be used to issue a warrant for arrest.

The MemoCam® is also used following the receipt of intelligence. They can be used to cost-effectively prove (or not) that there is something worth investigating. If there is, then resources can be deployed to investigate further, and if not, then no resources need be wasted.

A member of one of the Technical Support Units explains: “MemoCam® equipment is doing a job that police officers should be doing but can’t. In essence, they are a form of very cheap labor. They also help us to narrow down the intelligence we have so that we can put our valuable police officers onto working on the most reliable investigations.”

Two further benefits of MemoCam® are that they are easy to maintain and adapt to different requirements. Once deployed, a MemoCam® can be left to monitor a site for several months without having to be touched. If special requirements are needed, such as a long-range lens etc, then the team can easily make this option available.

“The cameras are easy to set up, have a simple memory card system and are straightforward to use,” says a member of one of the Technical Support Units. “If an area is known to have a lot of repeat burglaries, MemoCam® units can be installed and left for several weeks.”

He continues: “The inconspicuous design of the MemoCam® also means that they are difficult to spot. No cameras have been lost or damaged so far, and their simplicity and reliability have led to excellent results.”

“There have been dozens of successful jobs that have resulted in quality intelligence leading to arrests. One example is when car keys were stolen from a house during a burglary. We set up a camera, and saw pictures of the burglar when he returned to take the car the next day. Our Force was notified of the theft, and they matched the pictures to a known criminal – who was arrested the following afternoon.”

Conclusion

MemoCam® is allowing this Police Force to achieve its objective not only to solve more crimes, but also to reduce fear in the community about volume crimes such as burglary. It is able to deploy its resources in the best possible direction, to use intelligence more effectively and to get closer to meeting its goals.

As summed up by one of the Police Officers: “MemoCam® has delivered a massive amount of intelligence, has been used in numerous operations, and has led to many arrests.”

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