New security control equipment improves safety on campus
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Dominic Facherty in the newly refurbished security control room
ÔÇÿThis will make so much difference not only to our working environment but to the way that we can do a better job protecting staff and students.ÔÇÖ
The University has recently invested in major improvements to the Security Control Room based in Whiteknights House. Installation of state of the art technology means much better security for staff and students around campus.
Eight large plasma screens now replace small computer-size monitors. These large screens pick up images from the hundreds of CCTV cameras around campus. The screens can then, in turn, be split into four different images, making it much easier to track movement, and cover more of the campus at one time.
Nigel Courtenay, Senior Security Team Leader explains; "A new alarm receiving system highlights the correct screen the moment that the alarm is received, which allows us to zoom in quickly on that screen and take a closer look at the potential incident. We are then able to relay information to the team in the vehicle attending the incident while they are on their way."
The new facility includes appropriate lighting that can be adjusted according to the time of day, a welcome addition, as the Security Control Team work 24 hours a day. Dominic Facherty, Security Controller said of the new facility; "This will make so much difference not only to our working environment but to the way that we can do a better job protecting staff and students."
At a recent opening ceremony of the updated control room, Director of Facilities Management Colin Robbins praised project coordinators Steve Donn from Mansells and Chris Wilson from the AED Practice for the excellent and swift way that the project had been carried out.
The next phase of improvements will include a new Security Control Room based at the London Road campus.