CCTV solutions from Dedicated Micros - part of AD Group - including DVRs, and the latest TransVu mobile technology, are at the heart of a Proactive Audio-Video (PAV) surveillance system helping to protect the public parks, swimming pools and other areas of the Canadian capital city, Ottawa, from the safety and security issues caused by vandalism, drug use, drinking, graffiti and other inappropriate activities. Bob Gauvreau, Manager of Corporate Security in the Business Transformation Services Department of the City of Ottawa, was given a mandate to reduce the risk to the city. The Corporate Security team decided to accomplish this by establishing a cost-effective surveillance system.

"We decided to start with the city's outdoor public pools," says Bob Gauvreau, Manager of the Corporate Security Division, City of Ottawa. "Swimming pools are particularly vulnerable to misbehaviour. The glass from just one broken beer bottle can shut down a pool for a day. All pool water must be drained and replaced if any harmful substance gets into it. There is also a serious liability and public safety issue wherever people can hop a fence and lose their life by drowning."

Proactive audio-video

Gauvreau oversees a division of seven staffers who administer an integrated security management system for the city. Working cooperatively with the city's systems integrator, Sunotech Canada, Inc., Gauvreau's team developed a Proactive Audio-Video (PAV) system using motion-sensitive day/night dome cameras programmed to activate when an area is closed to the public. Any movement within a defined area triggers the motion detector, sending an alarm to the 24-hour Security Operations Centre, activating a loudspeaker, and starting a DVR recording.

"Some have called this system the `Voice of God,' and you can just imagine the surprise when we tell perpetrators that they are under observation and describe their actions to them," says Gauvreau. "We say the magic words, `the police have been called,' and they quickly flee the area."

PAV systems were installed at all 16 outdoor swimming pools and reduced vandalism costs by $700,000 in one year. The program was so successful at eliminating graffiti and other problems that the city decided to install PAV systems in a handful of parks and national historic sites that were the scenes of illegal or undesirable nighttime activities.

The key challenge was how to get a real-time video feed from a DVR in a remote park location back to the 24-hour centre. This would also allow security to review recorded video images remotely, instead of travelling onsite as they did with a few pools that lacked high-speed network connections. But none of the parks locations had broadband network connections, so a creative solution was required. The system needed to be able to store locally high quality images but have the ability to transmit live or recorded data in lower bandwidth version.