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Mobotix Dualdome helps police to apprehend high value metal thieves
19.12.2011

Mobotix advanced partner Sesys Ltd, a specialist in network vision solutions, has helped local police to catch intruders attempting to steal high value metals from Portsmouth City Council-s recycling centre.

The site, which had no access to high speed broadband, was assumed not to be covered by remote CCTV. However, the council had recently deployed a Sesys Torch CCTV system, which uses high resolution day and night, cameras to cover the entire site from the top of a high vantage point.

The innovative Torch is also accessible via the GSM mobile network, which allowed a manager doing a remote site inspection to spot two men breaking into the site.  With the Torch camera recording -evidential grade- footage of the event, the police were contacted and were able to apprehend both men who had fled onto the adjacent disused landfill.

As Paul Fielding, the council’s assistant head of service, said: "Due to high value metals on site we take security very seriously. Installing CCTV has been essential in ensuring the site remains safe and secure and will hopefully continue to reduce instances of theft and vandalism."

As a winner of an IPSEC innovation award, The Sesys Torch is designed around a 3-megapixel Mobotix Dualdome IP CCTV camera. The solid state Dualdome is a professional level network camera which is IP65 rated, designed to work in extreme environments with maximum resolution of 2048x1536 and able to provide colour images in lighting conditions as low as 1 lux. 

The Torch has a wide range of potential applications including emergency response teams and remote location security. Support for multiple 3G technologies including GPRS/UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA is compatible with mobile operator networks in the UK and a further 118 countries.

"The Torch Camera is particularly useful in situations where it is difficult or cost prohibitive to run cables," explains Dan Eames, Technical Director for Sesys, "It can be mounted almost anywhere even if there is no power available as the self contained unit contains a battery and it can be quickly moved to a new location if needed."

Sesys is now in discussion with the site manager Hopkins Recycling and Hampshire County Council about deploying the Torch at other recycling sites and using a shared monitoring service to protect multiple locations from high value thefts. "If the system prevents just one major theft or act of vandalism, it effectively pays for itself and in the recent case, it clearly did," Eames concludes.

 
Source: MOBOTIX AG
www.mobotix.com