Draft27-12

Case Studies
Pictured above: inside
the new Bristol control
room
Photo courtesy of Bristol
City Council
52
Peascod Street,
Windsor, looking
towards the Castle
Photo by Mark Rowe
city monitoring:
Control room merger
A multi-purpose control centre has opened in Bristol.
It brings together the council’s Emergency Control Centre,
Traffic Control Centre and community safety (CCTV)
control rooms in a single space for the first time. Some
700 CCTV cameras around the city are monitored there,
for traffic and crime prevention purposes. On the traffic
and flow monitoring side, operators make adjustments to
signals and put diversions in place to keep traffic moving.
The centre also provides a place for staff from transport
providers to work with the council’s traffic management
team, providing more accurate real time information about
services. The Community Safety and traffic control centres
have each moved out of their city centre previous bases.
‘Our partners’
Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol, said: “This new centre
represents an investment in the safety of citizens and
getting the city moving. The challenges we face to beat
congestion, support vulnerable people in their homes
and secure safer streets require new approaches and new
ways of working. By blending state of the art technology
Windsor wireless
We featured Windsor and district
CCTV in our April 2017 issue
round-up of public space CCTV. Now
the Royal Borough of Windsor and
Maidenhead is spending £1.3m on a
new wireless CCTV system expected
to be operational by the end of 2018;
and monitored all day, every day.
Carwyn Cox, cabinet member for
environmental services (including
parking), said: “We want to support
the police and partner organisations
in protecting our residents, businesses
and visitors. The existing CCTV
system is reaching the end of its
serviceable life after more than 20
years and our replacement will be a
significant upgrade.” This follows a
detailed review of the CCTV by an
external company and fits into wider
work to improve public security
across the borough. Already installed
are new cameras in multi-storey car
parks’ stairwells. Also planned are
hostile vehicle mitigation barriers in
Windsor. See also page 66. p
l The three towns of Ryedale District
Council in North Yorkshire, Malton,
Norton and Pickering are to get new
dome cameras. Scarborough Borough
Council will monitor them for a
volunteer-run 20-year-old charity,
Ryedale Cameras in Action. p
DECEMBER 2017 PROFESSIONAL SECURITY
and a collaborative approach to sharing operations we’re
taking a positive step towards meeting these challenges.
Collaboration is critical if we’re to better manage the
city and respond to the needs of people across Bristol.
Our partners in health, police, fire and rescue, transport
providers and other sectors will make use of the centre to
co-ordinate our response to issues when they arise, making
sure the right decisions are taken when action is needed.”
‘World class’
MINSTER FRONTS UP
Twelve security blocks were being
installed at the West End front of
York Minster last month; it’s pictured
this summer before the work. The
‘urgent and decisive action’ came
on recommendation from police.
The Dean of York, the Very Rev Dr
Vivienne Faull said: “The national
terror threat level has been at ‘severe’
for many months and is likely to
remain so for some time to come.
Some experts within the UK’s
security community believe that we
In a major emergency incident the centre can become a
tactical and strategic group venue, hosting planners and
responders. Andrew Everitt, Head of Exercising at the
Cabinet Office Emergency Planning College, said: “Bristol
City Council is determined to ensure that their crisis and
business continuity management processes are entirely
consistent with national best practice. The new operations
centre in Bristol is world class and provides an enviable
facility for diverse responder organisations to work
together in managing all types of incidents and events,
from response through to recovery. Its multi-functional
nature will also ensure that responder organisations have
enhanced capabilities at their finger- tips. Interoperability
sits at the core of good emergency management and this
are facing a generational problem
which may last for 20 or 30 years. The
appalling attacks in Manchester and
London earlier this year have required
all those responsible for the security
of nationally important buildings,
monuments and public spaces to reassess,
review and constantly refine
their arrangements for keeping people
safe.” In March we reported how the
ancient Minster Constables (one is in
the picture) were given police powers
inside the cathedral’s precincts, one
sign of police seeking to draw on
partner guard forces. p
www.professionalsecurity.co.uk
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