The Thinking Camera

Always ahead of the game with leading edge technology, technicians at SDC and REMAS are now evaluating the next generation of CCTV systems and their integration into advanced security management.

Today’s CCTV cameras are of course, far more sophisticated than the analogue video camera with which we have become familiar over recent years. For a start, digital images are clearer and can be stored, distributed over communication networks, timed and dated then retrieved at will. Using smart digital technologies, the new cameras are now able to ‘decide’ if a crime is about to happen and focus in on an incident of suspicious activity, making it easier to trace recorded images.

These intelligent cameras will tell us if someone is spraying graffiti on a wall because they have ‘learnt’ what the normal image should be within their given field of vision. Any deviation from this will create a response and alert a control centre operator who will take the appropriate action.

Similarly, a camera trained on a car park might be activated if it detects someone moving from car to car, as opposed to approaching one vehicle, indicating it may be a car thief. An airport camera can be programmed to know what a departure hall should look like, with thousands of separate movements. A single suitcase left for any length of time however, would cause the camera to respond and trigger an alarm. Interestingly, this particular technology was originally developed for use in hotels to alert staff to a breakfast tray left outside a room – an interesting evolution from ‘service’ to ‘security’.

Latest developments include microphones attached to cameras or embedded in street lights. The Dutch have already pioneered a system that recognises aggressive sounds, without actually eavesdropping on conversations.

Then there is automatic gait recognition, which sounds more like a form of access control. In fact, this ingenious use of CCTV identifies people by the way they walk and the Government has asked Ministry of Defence scientists to develop it for widespread use. Cameras are programmed to pick up on a particular gait, thereby making it impossible for a suspect to avoid detection by covering his face.

Technology in the fight against crime is one thing but the impact of CCTV on our daily lives is a subject of growing concern. We already have close to five million CCTV cameras in the UK, which is one fifth of the world's total, and it is estimated that the average Londoner might be monitored by 300 CCTV cameras a day. A home affairs select committee is looking into the implications of public privacy, although it is hard to see what it can do about it.

When all this advanced CCTV surveillance comes together with DNA, ID cards, radio-frequency identification, citizens' database, number plate recognition and all the other information held on us, are we going to smile for the camera?