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Town centre turns to metal mickey for flexible, robust surveillance

Town centre managers in Swindon have developed a unique solution to the problems of camera positioning using MIC1-400 cameras from Forward Vision.

Working with installers ATEC, the Swindon Crime Reduction Partnership has developed a tripod-style deployable camera-unit, which can be re-positioned in less than an hour to meet new operational requirements as they arise.

The custom-made units are designed to sit on the flat-roofs of shops and other town centre buildings.  The MIC1-400 cameras or "Metal Mickeys" as they are more commonly known, are mounted so that they project just beyond the parapet of the buildings to provide discreet CCTV surveillance of the areas below.  Each unit has a 24-hour battery and transmits images to a dedicated receiver on top of a 23 storey council building in the town centre.  The system has a range of more than 30 km so the cameras can also be moved well beyond the town centre if required.

The Metal Mickey cameras were specified for the units by the Partnership's Director, Oliver O'Dell because of their tough vandal-resistant design.

"In public area operations in different parts of the country I have used shoe-box style cameras and found them very vulnerable," said Mr O'Dell.

"In one year alone I lost £35,000 of camera equipment due to ballistic attacks, with bricks being thrown and ball-bearing guns being used.  Cabling was also often ripped from the back of the camera housings, but the Metal Mickeys are tough enough to be deployed anywhere without suffering that sort of damage."

The advantage of being able to move the new camera units is that professional criminals, who can soon get used to operating just beyond the range of permanently fixed cameras, will be kept guessing.

"In the past I've used cameras permanently mounted in fixed locations and found that incidents concentrate beyond the periphery of the camera's range.  Criminals can be very smart in avoiding the CCTV but by moving our cameras from rooftop to rooftop we will make it that much harder for them," says Mr O'Dell

The MIC1-400 is recognised as one of the most robust and versatile PTZ cameras ever developed and is ideal for rapid deployment applications like the one described.  Made from precision-machined 6mm aluminium or stainless steel, it is available in straight, 90 degree, or canted 45 degree, options for maximum installation flexibility.

"The MIC1-400's image quality in low light conditions was also important to us, bearing in mind our work with the licensed trade," added Oliver O'Dell. "Using the Metal Mickeys we can now get high quality coverage anywhere in the town centre 24 hours a day."