An online security company is creating ‘watches’ from CCTV footage that alert businesses when criminals enter their venues.
Simon Gordon, the director of Facewatch, a web-based crime and incident recording and reporting system that enables you to share images and data of offenders, spoke about their new initiative at IFSEC on Wednesday.
The system was developed by Gordon to tackle the problem of petty thieves in his London bar, Gordon’s Wine Bar. Since Facewatch’s genesis in March 2010, it has accrued 8,000 business partners and 12 police forces to work with it. Some of their other partners include retail banks and museums.
Police are sent CCTV images and data from Facewatch directly, to make them more efficient at tackling crime. The programme also allows business owners to talk to the police online and see which officer is dealing with each offender.
As well as being able to view footage of the offender committing the crime, you can view where and when they committed the crime. Using this information, the cloud-based system puts together an interactive map of the criminals involved.
The police are given Facewatch for free, while businesses are charged at £3 a month. Partners and clients can use the software to make advanced searches for certain suspects, based on criteria including gender and location. The program also has a matching system that allows people in authority and computerised facial recognition systems to identify the criminal.
“If you accuse someone of a crime, you can use video evidence from Facewatch to prove your case. The idea is to show it to the criminal upfront, for example in a bar. If you show them then, they are more likely to plead guilty. If you say ‘we’ve got some video evidence,’ they are less likely to and it costs the CPS a lot more time and money,” said Gordon.
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