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Making cash in transit safer

The string of well-armed and aggressive cash-in-transit robberies in recent months has created cause for concern. A number of companies are reviewing their own security to find solutions that will assist and ultimately prevent these heists. The key consideration in this day and age must be the saving of human life, but what also raises a smile are the reductions in overheads and key costs. We have seen local insurance companies able to demonstrate a significant saving in insurance premiums for certain fleets even to the extent where the reduction paid for the installation of a complete mobile solution with cameras.

The recent Public Transport Show held at Nasrec highlighted many scenarios and there was a steady flow of interested parties looking for mobile solutions that were stable and produced a quality picture. The often overlooked key factor of a quality recorded image in a non-conditional refresh format, synchronised audio, ruggedness and ability to withstand excessive shock, vibration and heat were foremost in many minds. More and more people seem to be better educated on asking the right questions to secure the product capable of achieving effective results.

Lessons learnt from London, Spain and the US have given some real direction to mobile solutions. The company TFL (Transport for London) which has been tasked with specifying and recommending the mobile DVR solutions for all transport within London has been very clear on what it is looking for to achieve its aims. It is significant that of the 6000 hours of recorded material collected after the bombings, only 1000 hours was usable. This has called for a clear strategy on what is used and how it is installed. Similar levels of specification will no doubt become relevant within South Africa too, especially with options to record 4, 8 or even 16 channels of video with options on audio at excellent frame rates and quality, and sufficient to be able to easily identify the passenger and also to hear what is being said. Additional links for RX/TX control, alarm I/O contacts and full DHCP support for Wireless LAN, GPRS and 3G remote links. Downloading of information has proven to be difficult by removing the hard drive as evidence it has been seen in many occasions that the person removing the hard drive often mishandles or damages the drives as he is unaware of their fragile nature.

Cash-in-transit is a high demand industry where costings and margins are carefully monitored. To facilitate placing cameras and a mobile system is often negatively perceived. It has been proven in other countries that the use of cameras on board has significantly helped in the capture and identification of those people involved in hold ups. In addition the use of mobile solutions in police vehicles and the ability to read number plates at high speed has led to the identification of wanted vehicles long before they get into a position where they are able to be used in criminal activities. We have seen a marked increase in interest from large truck fleet owners looking to protect their investments and we know that it is only a matter of time before more cash-in-transit companies trial and accept the high quality mobile solutions currently becoming available.

Vision Catcher has a choice of demonstration systems and is able to provide detailed reference sites and experience within this complex field. Transport for London chose the FleetVu unit as its choice of a mobile solution and 43 police units in Britain chose a licence plate recognition system also available from Vision Catcher.

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