1 October 2008
analysis
Johannesburg — WHEN, after five years in the South African navy, and with just R2000 in his pocket, Capetonian Gary Scagell set off to seek adventure in Europe, he had no idea where the escapade would lead him.
A right-place-at-the-right-time event was the starting point for what has evolved into an interesting and rewarding career at the hi-tech end of the security industry.
While on the lookout for work opportunities in the UK in 1988, he was "lucky enough to know the right person and to be at the right place". This led to him being appointed to the VIP protection team of the late Saudi king, Fahd bin Abdul Aziz.
For almost five years, Scagell got a behind-the-scenes and an in-the-frame view of international security and surveillance -- and the machinations associated therewith -- in the globetrotting company of the Saudi royal family and its ample entourage.
Sixteen years of continued scrutiny, discovery and development later, Scagell is back in Cape Town as the founder and MD of Visec Surveillance Systems, which develops and distributes licence plate recognition software and surveillance systems, and is the only company worldwide to offer licence plate recognition software over wireless internet protocol (IP).
And, with more than 16 000 customer installations across the retail, hospitality, finance, education and healthcare sectors already under his belt, he is determined to take what he has learnt about surveillance and information technology beyond the realm of security, into the spheres of intelligent transportation systems and marketing.
The stratagem of surveillance as a security measure took off after 9/11. Nowadays surveillance cameras abound in major cities around the world. They blink and gyrate on roadsides, street corners, shopping malls, public bathrooms, airports, factories and residential neighbourhoods the world over.
London is considered the most "surveilled" city in the world with more than 10000 cameras keeping watch on citizens and visitors. The cameras helped track down the London underground bombers in 2005.
Not to be outdone, officials in Washington recently installed more than 5000 surveillance cameras to monitor streets, schools, parks and roads throughout the US capital -- and the numbers are growing. While terrorism is the main reason for the increase of cameras , Washington's police report a marked reduction in crime in areas near the cameras.
Crime, and not terrorism, is what spurred Scagell and the head of Fish Hoek's improvement district committee, Frank Johnson, to convince the authorities and community of their home town on Cape Town's False Bay coastline to test the surveillance camera claim recently. Visec installed 10 cameras to track movement along Fish Hoek's main road 24 hours a day. The technology sends high-resolution streaming video directly to a fully monitored 24-hour control room.
Within three months of installation, there was a significant drop in crime in the town. In fact, according to Capt Riaan Bester of the Fish Hoek police, crime in the area has declined almost 60% since the installation of the Visec system: "We used to have a huge problem with ATM card swap crime, for example. This has now completely disappeared and cash-in-transit crime does not happen at all in Fish Hoek any more. The cameras have made our jobs substantially easier," he says. One of the cameras in Fish Hoek is dedicated to licence plate recognition, which records vehicle licence plates and then transfers the details to databases of information, which can indicate whether the car is stolen, if it has been involved in a traffic offence, and so on. A similar system is used to track vehicles entering New York City in a scheme called Operation Sentinel. Data on each vehicle -- its time-stamped image, licence plate imprint and radiological signature -- are sent in real time to a command centre, where it is indexed and stored as part of a broader security plan.
Authorities in the UK announced last month that a new national road camera system in that country will record up to 50-million licence plates a day, allowing the police to retrace journeys taken by motorists suspected of crimes ranging from terrorism to minor offences.
Thousands of cameras across the country are being converted to incorporate automatic number plate recognition capability and, early next year, a national centre in north London will begin storing footage of every licence plate captured for up to five years. Police will have access to the system, allowing them to crack down on violations as relatively minor as driving an uninsured car and as major as being involved in terrorist activities.
It is the licence plate recognition aspect of surveillance that most excites Scagell and his team at Visec. They believe that, in addition to mainstream law enforcement, there are myriad uses for licence plate technology. On a national level, for example, once licence plate recognition software is integrated into intelligent transportation systems, it will become possible to automate toll collection, build comprehensive databases of traffic movement, analyse traffic patterns and even improve border control. It can also be used to prevent non-payment at service stations.
Furthermore, says Scagell, the ability to recognise registration numbers provides opportunity for comprehensive parking solutions. For example, a parking lot equipped with licence plate recognition can provide flexible and automatic vehicle entry to and exit from a car park, improved security for both car park operators and car park users, and better traffic flow during peak periods.
"Many people don't know that the highest incidence of car theft is at shopping centres. This technology could help put a stop to that. Shoppers who register for licence plate tracking could benefit substantially -- and so could mall operators and retailers," he explains. "Firstly, when motorists enter the centre, the system would register their pre-registered plate and send them an SMS greeting, welcoming them and telling them about the specials on offer that day. The type of specials communicated could be tailored to that specific person's taste based on registered data, as well as previous shopping habits. Then, on exit, the system would need a reply SMS before letting the vehicle exit the building, a highly effective deterrent for criminals."
Residential estates, he says , can also use the system to increase security. The idea is that when residents drive up to the security entrance or exit, a camera will read their plate, which is pre-programmed into the system, and automatically send an SMS to the owner of the vehicle to obtain verification that the driver is the rightful owner.
If you are a little unsettled by the emerging theme of someone or something watching and filming your every move, perhaps you can take comfort in the fact that Visec licence plate recognition technology can also programme a range of triggers to happen at your home as the camera reads your plate. For example, go through the boom, and the garage will open, the house lights will be switched on and the kettle will start boiling.
I don't know about you, but I'm feeling much better already.
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