Page 18 - Sphere No.12 (Aug 2004)

SPHERE 16
T E C H N O L O G Y
A surveillance system powered by the 3 network is helping the Italian Police Force ensure that crime doesn’t pay.
By Mark Caldwell
CATCHING ON
H ooligans, gangsters, scoundrels,
thugs, thieves, traffic violators
and other miscreants in the
picturesque Italian town of Pero have all
been dealt a severe blow thanks to the
introduction of an advanced new moni-
toring system called VideoPatrol , which
allows the police to access live streaming
video of crime hotspots while on
the move.
The urban security system, jointly
designed by 3 Italy and AP Systems
(APS), is another example of the innova-
tive developments being brought about
by UMTS (3G) technology.
Situated in the province of Milan,
Pero could hardly be described as
a haven for criminals. In fact, it’s a law-
abiding town in which there is only one
cop for every 3,000 inhabitants.
Nevertheless the local police force had
been under pressure to satisfy the dual
requirements of manning the police
headquarters as well as providing
a visible presence to the public.
Launched in April, VideoPatrol came
about when the Pero Police Department
approached APS, a systems integrator
company, to help find a way to alleviate
their staff-shortage difficulties. The
problem was that the video monitoring
centre at police HQ had to be manned at
all times, effectively handcuffing valu-
able officers to their desks.
Realising that the solution lay in
mobility, APS in turn approached 3 Italy
to help design and implement a system
that would deliver real-time video infor-
mation in a mobile environment.
APS was already a partner of 3 Italy,
involved in the mobile video company’s
3 for Business programme, which pro-
vides innovative communications solu-
tions for professionals on the move.
“We have worked in Public
Administration services since 1986 and
our customers have often asked us for
this kind of service, but we never found
the right technology to match their
needs,” said Renzo Bassetto, CEO of
APS. “With UMTS we finally found real
high-speed mobile services. 3 Italy
helped us both in developing the service
and in delivering the product to
the customer.”
Previously, police stayed in touch with
headquarters via radio. But with
VideoPatrol they have effectively trans-
formed their patrol cars into mini-HQs,
with the same access to information as
they would get at head office.
“We have only ten policemen in a city
of 30,000,” says Renato Forte, head of
the Pero Police. “We had difficulties in
managing this city with such a small
force and we needed to improve efficien-
cy because Pero will host the Milan Fair
[Europe’s biggest trade fair] in 2005.
With VideoPatrol, no one has to stay in