I4S VIDEO: OLYMPIC GAMES SECURITY-THE CURRENT STATE OF PLAY

Home Secretary Theresa May delivered the keynote speech at RUSI’s Olympic and Paralympic Security Conference in central London. Where are we now with planning for a secure Games?-By Brian SimsThis coming summer’s Olympic and Paralympic Games promise to be the greatest sporting event in the history of Great Britain. They also demand the biggest peacetime security operation ever realised on home shores. You’ve probably seen some of the statistics around this event already, but they’re well worth reiterating for sense of scale. 10,500 Olympic athletes from 205 national Olympic Committees and 4,200 Paralympic athletes from 170 national Paralympic Committees are paying us a visit.The busiest competition day will attract no less than 800,000 spectators to the various Olympic events. Those physical viewers are to be supplemented by a global TV audience totalling an estimated four billion.Need for a safe and secure gamesSpeaking at yesterday’s Olympic and Paralympic Security Conference organised by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), Home Secretary Theresa May declared the Government and her law enforcement portfolio “ready to take on the challenge of delivering a safe and secure games”.Planning for the Games began prior to the bid being won in 2005 and has been going on ever since. In tandem with delivering a safe and secure sporting spectacle there has to be a strict adherence to the basic Olympic values and ethos. As has been said before, it’s a sporting event with a layer of security rather than the other way round.“This means we need a security approach that’s robust but seamless,” asserted May. “Visible but not intrusive, tough but intelligent... and that’s what we will deliver.”As you would fully expect at this juncture, May asserted that Games security plans are “well-developed” and the overall security operation is on track. “I know the International Olympic Committee shares that judgement,” said May as if to embellish that particular point.Like all western nations, the UK faces a number of ongoing threats to its national security. The Home Secretary is adamant that all have been taken into account at the planning stage.“We know we face a real and enduring threat from terrorism and we know that the Games as an iconic event will represent a target for terrorist groups,” explained May. “Our Olympic security plans have been developed against an assumption that the terrorist threat level at the time of the games will be ‘Severe’.”Given that the nature of the terrorist threat has developed and evolved over the past few years, the Government’s security plans compliment and draw on the capabilities and expertise developed through counter-terrorism strategy CONTEST.Importantly, though, May was keen to point out that: “We have specifically designed-in the ability to be flexible and we have kept everything under regular review. That flexibility will be crucial at Games time. It will allow us to respond rapidly and effectively to any unforeseen developments.”

OPEN PLATFORM FOR PRISION

IP video management software is the basis for CCTV in a
new central prison in Switzerland, which has twice as many cameras as guards
observing the life of those inside and outside the cells.

Approaching the 6m wall of the new prison in Lenzburg, Switzerland, it is
clear at the revolving steel door entrance that those inside are not the only
ones under surveillance. In use are 72 fixed and eight pan/tilt/zoom (PTZ) dome
cameras from Panasonic, and XProtect video surveillance software from Danish
software firm Milestone Systems, installed by the Milestone Certified Partner
Siaxma.Video specialist Thomas Rudin from Siaxma is a member of the
'CCTV System Committee' in the Swiss Association of Security System Installers.
Milestone open platform IP video software is used for management and operation
of the network-based CCTV instead of the originally planned analogue
equipment.This approach provides advantages: more flexible operation,
better image quality, simple configuration by users and multiple upgrade
possibilities. The enormous quantity of data - in the past the images from each
camera were saved for seven days - is stored on two Pivot3 servers installed for
this application; a third server runs in parallel as a redundant security
feature. In the outdoor area, infrared spotlights allow CCTV images during the
night.Software "As a Milestone Certified Partner, Siaxma not
only has the right product: one of its major strengths is integrating systems
from third parties with existing or new infrastructures," said Thomas Etter,
Deputy Security Instructor for the central prison. "We linked the video system
to the access control system, the intercom system and the security control
system."For example: "If someone reports from one of the intercom
stations or opens a door at a medical location, the image from the corresponding
camera appears immediately on the monitor", said Etter. "This ‘on-demand’
feature facilitates our work in the control center, particularly at night, when
only one prison officer is on duty. Moreover, it saves storage space while still
guaranteeing complete traceability of all events."The server from Pivot3
is set up with the Milestone software to retain archived video images only when
the camera registers movement, whereby the last 20 seconds before the event is
also recorded for better investigations.The floor plan for the CCTV
coverage is subdivided into zones on the Milestone map functionality; all camera
locations are interlinked and can be controlled via mouse click. The most
important can be switched on with the keyboard, where over 20 fixed settings -
ie the exact image sections - can be programmed. Otherwise the pan/tilt/zoom
motions of the cameras can be controlled with either a joystick or
mouse."The Milestone software allows us to complete such configurations
ourselves to the greatest extent, so we can adapt it quickly to our specific
requirements," added Thomas Etter. "Since the central prison is a new building
and our everyday routine with the prisoners is being developed step by step, our
requirements may change. But the video surveillance system remains independent
and flexible."