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All Housing Associations, Property Managers and local authority Housing Officers will be familiar with the blight of anti-social behaviour (ASB). ASB means a wide range of unacceptable activity and includes drug dealing, graffiti, fly-tipping, abandoned vehicles, vandalism, nuisance neighbours and intimidating groups taking over public spaces.
Housing Associations and Councils have teams of personnel who’s job it is to identify, tackle and discourage such behaviour and are always looking at innovative surveillance solutions. The Government have produced an ASB charter for Housing Associations called ‘Respect’ which gives Housing Associations a clear framework to operate within when it comes to dealing with ASB.
All tenancy agreements, for example, will require householders and visitors to not commit or cause any form of harassment, nuisance or anti-social behaviour to neighbours or the general public in their locality. Similarly, all Councils will have a Neighbourhood Policing Team or wardens where ASB can be reported. There are a number of sanctions the Housing Association or Council can issue including court injunctions, possession action and issuing Community Protection Notices if the ASB is of a persistent nature.
Many instances of ASB occur in areas where perpetrators know there is no CCTV due to power constraints. OCULi HD units can be deployed quickly as trouble spots appear, they do not require a hard wired power supply or wi-fi connection and any enforcement personnel can respond to ASB footage which can be viewed via the mobile app or portal in seconds of the event happening. This footage is stored on the cloud for 60 days where it can be downloaded for prosecution purposes.
OCULi HD units use ultra low power so the ability to deploy units with batteries already fitted can be done in a short period of time. Units can also be powered via a solar panel but this takes time to connect to the unit. Battery status can be monitored via the portal and alerts can be set for low battery. A magnetic mount aids quick deployment.
If the ASB is only happening at night, users can set an arming schedule so that events are only captured during certain times and the portal allows for a hierarchy of users to be assigned with specific permissions with regards to the viewing of footage and other features available. Units have a built in IR light for clear night-time footage.
There are two variants available, one with a detection range of 15 metres out and 20 metres across and the other 40 metres out and 4 metres across, perfect for car park entrances for example. Crucially, multiple sites can be monitored via the OCULi HD portal without the need for different log-ins per site. Additionally, OCULi HD is designed and manufactured in the UK and as such units are NDAA compliant – a growing requisite for Councils across the country.