by Brianna Crandall — July 22, 2011—Mobotix has released details of a project at the parish of St. Nicholas, one of the U.K.’s oldest churches and located in Stevenage, that has deployed closed-circuit television (CCTV) technology to protect against theft and vandalism while offering access to special services via the Internet.
The St. Nicholas Church structure is a Grade 1-listed historic building over 1,000 years old. It began as a Saxon church, which was replaced by a Norman one, of which only a thick-walled flint tower remains, housing a ring of eight bells. It has been rebuilt through nine centuries. Items of interest in the church include an ancient stone font with a medieval carved wooden cover, six 14th century misericords, a carved reredos dating from 1890, a Victorian organ, and a number of stained glass windows.
Following a systematic campaign of metal thefts from the church that caused over £20,000 worth of damage and a spate of petty vandalism, Paul Drakes, a retired fire-fighter and the Churchwarden at St. Nicholas Church, felt he had to act. Drakes explains, “We were keen to have remote access to the CCTV and for it to have enough intelligence to alert myself or other volunteers by phone if unexpected movement was detected within the church grounds.”
Drakes directly liaised with Verdant on every hole that was drilled to ensure that there was minimal impact to the building. Verdant set up a CCTV solution that provides a complete perimeter and internal view of the two acre site with just six surveillance cameras. Four of the Mobotix Dualdome-D12 surveillance cameras cover the external perimeter of the building and just two cover the entire interior.
A further Dualdome-D12 surveillance camera was added to the bell tower to cover the car park, access road and nearby farm buildings, with agreement from the local farmer. Verdant says this coverage with such a low camera count was achievable because the image quality of the Mobotix camera is so good that it can cover a large area while retaining good definition.
The system records 30 days worth of footage on an Overland 2TByte Snap server and is also linked via a BT broadband connection. The Mobotix surveillance cameras can automatically telephone a range of preset telephone numbers in the event of movement in and around the church, especially late at night. Recipients of a phone alert can easily and securely log in via any Internet-connected PC or mobile device to view footage from any camera in real-time. “This allows us to quickly and safely assess the situation and take the appropriate measures,” explains Drakes.
The 3 megapixel system uses dual lenses for night and day, and the surveillance cameras have microphones and speakers. This high-quality video and audio feed has also helped the church increase accessibility to important services held at the church, by broadcasting live feed from a wedding and funeral to close relatives unable to attend.
Since the installation of the CCTV, which Drakes believes is the first of its kind in the U.K. to both protect and deliver church services via the Internet, there have been no thefts or incidents of vandalism on the site. “Verdant has been extremely supportive throughout the project, and unless you look very closely, the subtlety of the installation in no way detracts from the façade of our church,” Paul adds, “Many people think of CCTV as an intrusive concept, but we are showing that it brings many additional benefits to our community, and we hope other churches can use the technology to help their congregations.”
