Ecl-ips is a proud partner of advanced CCTV system manufacturer, Avigilon, which is part of Motorola Solutions. The North American technology company launched the latest upgrade to its video management software, Avigilon Control Center (ACC) 7.6 at the end of March.
The engineers at Ecl-ips have been ensuring we are learning what this latest upgrade could offer for our existing and potential customers in the future. Many of our customers are schools where senior management take security and safeguarding increasingly seriously.
However, this could also be of use on large retail settings or sports or entertainment venues when large numbers of people need protection and we would be delighted to demonstrate the technology to you in the future.
This latest upgrade of the video management software will allow those operating the CCTV system within a school or other organisation to identify a person that is believed to be a threat and to add a picture of them to a watch list. When the CCTV cameras pick up an image that provides a face match against the watch list, the security operators will receive a notification so that they can take proactive measures to assess the situation and ensure the safety of students, staff or other members of the public.
The software has improved facial recognition technology to ensure the accuracy of the face match system. To ensure that privacy concerns are met the facial recognition capabilities are only used as against data entered into the system and no actions are taken unless taken by the CCTV operators based on the watch list finding face matches. Additionally, to ensure privacy concerns and data protection obligations are met the use of watch lists will be maintained and managed by the CCTV operators alone.
In keeping with this commitment, Motorola Solutions has stated that the new video management capabilities in ACC 7.6 include robust controls to govern the retention and accessibility of watch list data, the ability to create and manage multiple watch lists from within ACC and the option to upload reference images to a watch list. These features are built into the solution natively, meaning that the technology is developed and owned by Motorola Solutions as opposed to a third-party vendor.
John Kedzierski, senior vice president, Video Security Solutions, Motorola Solutions, said, “For our enterprise customers, we believe potential facial recognition matches should always be assessed and verified by a trained specialist who can then determine whether further investigation or action is necessary.”
Facial recognition is a controversial technology for some but it can have strong safeguarding benefits when backed up with good data and CCTV system management. To ensure you are meeting the highest standards in this regard you can follow the 12 Guiding Principles that form part of the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice in the UK. If you are looking for a way to manage this process you can do this by signing up to the compliance section of CCTV Logbook, a new separate venture from Ecl-ips Managing Director, Aaron Kernaghan.
ACC 7.6 also features unusual motion detection analytics that provide site-wide intelligence with the ability to recognise unusual activity such as the speed of movement or location of people or vehicles. This distinguishes between typical and abnormal events by continuously learning what usual activity might be for a scene over time. For example, if there is an individual running through a crowded shopping centre, a security guard could be alerted in Focus of Attention to locate where the individual is and take measures to understand the situation.
Ecl-ips is a well-established Avigilon partner and is committed to be able to offer its latest software to organisations in the West Midlands, where we are based, and in the wider UK. Please contact us if you want to find out more.