30 Sep 2014

Footage helps to catch vandals in act

10:55 pm on 30 September 2014

Live footage from Wellington train stations is being used to catch vandals in the act in a move police say has saved tens of thousands of dollars in graffiti clean-ups.

Security guard John Donaldson monitors CCTV footage from the region's trains.

Security guard John Donaldson monitors CCTV footage from the region's trains. Photo: RNZ

Security guards at the rail monitoring centre flick through 660 live feeds from the region's train stations and keep tabs on any suspicious activity.

If they see anyone pulling out a spray can, or any trouble about to break out, they get straight on the phone to the police.

In three months, 330 reports have been passed on from the centre, leading to 10 arrests and one prosecution.

In August alone, the cameras caught out four times more rule-breakers than security guards walking the beat did.

Inspector Mike Hill said having the footage available live was invaluable.

"The ability for us to intervene before there is a problem, or to be notified and to attend before something more serious happens, makes plenty of sense to us," he said.

The centre set the Greater Wellington Regional Council back $3 million and will cost about $1.1 million a year to run.

Council rail operations manager Angus Gabara said it cost $6000 to get each tag off a train, so each sighting saved money.

He said the move to live monitoring was prompted by not being able to act immediately when crime was caught on tape, as the film was often not available until the following day.

Mr Gabara said they were now looking at the technology's other uses.

"Two-way communication is another system we are trialling, where if someone was feeling unsafe they could get in touch with the RMC through a duress point on the platform," he said.

"Likewise, if someone is lurking around and looking suspicious, whether it be around a station or a train, then they could be alerted to the fact they are being watched."

In Auckland a similar system had been in place for more than a decade, with 1800 cameras city-wide, 400 of which were scattered around the transport network.

An Auckland Transport spokesperson said the footage was used regularly in police investigations.

Currently, in Wellington the monitoring is only done during daytime hours. However, that will increase to a 24-hour watch from November.

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