CCTV
Control room operation: Findings from control room observations
This report details the findings of a large-scale study of the operation of control rooms. It assesses the practical impact of various factors on the overall effectiveness of CCTV systems.
Title: Control room operation: Findings from control room observations
Author: Professor Martin Gill, Angela Spriggs, Jenna Allen, Martin Hemming, Patricia Jessiman, Deena Kara, Jonathan Kilworth, Ross Little, Daniel Swain
Series: Home Office on-line report 14/05
Date published: February 2005
Number of pages: 55
Availability: Download full report 
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The findings are based on over 550 hours of observation in 13 control rooms.
Control room ownership
Ten of the 13 control rooms observed were owned and managed by the local authority, and were staffed by either local authority employees or private security staff. It was important therefore, to develop effective working relationships with the police to tackle crime and disorder issues. However, these relationship varied widely across the control rooms.
Regular police contact helped operators to carry out surveillance effectively, and increased the operators' knowledge of the area, e.g. crime trends and problem individuals.
Control room design
The various sizes and layouts of control rooms had an impact on the effectiveness of systems as a whole. The evaluation found that:
high camera-to-operator and camera-to-monitor ratios reduced the detection of incident
control rooms were more effective when operators were able to access all cameras from every station in the control room. This meant operators could not only work together when dealing with incidents, but could also take responsibility for separate areas when performing general surveillance
the allocation of extra responsibilities, such as tape management, administration and dealing with visitors, interfered with the operators proactive monitoring of the area
having distinct, segregated groups of cameras within the control room can work effectively if there is a dedicated operator for each monitoring station.
Control room management
The presence of a control room manager on both an operational and strategic level, made noticeable differences to the organisation, efficiency and knowledge of the operators. A number of issues emerged:
Managers with a number of different roles often neglected their control room responsibilities. The alternative was for managers to dedicate a certain amount of time for each duty.
Managers who were familiar with the daily tasks and responsibilities of operators, and who liaised well with staff, increased staff morale and ensured that tasks were completed properly.
Managers with a good level of technical expertise often had better working relationships with contractors and were able to train operators in equipment use.
Managers who developed effective links with external agencies, especially the police, increased the amount and quality of intelligence entering the control room.
Operators' working practices
Within the control rooms there was a wide variety of operating styles, knowledge, skills, and attitudes. A number of key issues were identified:
Having a police officer and a police radio in the control room during busy periods helped operators to better target surveillance.
Town/city centres were proactively monitored more than residential areas. It is good practice to concentrate resources on busier areas, unless project objectives state otherwise.
Keeping a monitoring log was a good source of information for both operators and the police.
Tasks such as tape management, searching for incidents and other administrative tasks distracted operators from their monitoring tasks. These tasks need to be managed better to avoid this.
Operators need to be in a stimulating environment with regular contact with external agencies, and support from management.
Operators were often not aware of the need to meet the police requirements for evidential quality images. It is essential that operators have knowledge of what is required.
Communication with external agencies
Information was shared with a number of agencies, most notably the police, retailers and pubs/clubs. There was found to be wide variation in the type and level of information received and passed on by the control room. A number of key issues were raised by the research:
Radio was the most effective method of communication between the police and the control room. It helped direct surveillance and increased the efficiency with which incidents were dealt with.
Effective working relationships between the police and the operators, built trust, which reduced the amount of time lost when incidents occurred.
Appropriately trained operators who were effective in conversing with the police could exchange incident details quickly.
Processing and managing evidence
The process of tape management (recording, logging, storage, and retrieval) is vital when the system is used to provide evidence. Methods of tape management varied across the control rooms and a number of key issues were raised:
Preparing tapes in advance of the changeover time during quieter periods (i.e. 3-6a.m.) avoided operators taking extensive periods away from monitoring to deal with tape management.
Tapes needed to be retained for longer than 31 days.
It was very important to maintain a Code of Practice setting out operating procedures e.g. the length of time tapes are retained and the number of times a tape is reused before being discarded.
Last update: Wednesday, September 20, 2006