27 June 2023 - Genevieve Graham
Featured in: Market Insights, Visual verification
Protecting valuable property and assets from anti-social behaviour, such as unwanted graffiti, is easier today than ever before. Security systems are being revolutionised by cloud computing and the integration of AI, which can help to identify unwelcome graffiti artists in the act and ultimately help to remove them from our streets.
They also use bridging, open-protocol software to connect alarm monitoring to legacy cameras, sensors, panic buttons and other hardware and easily create a bespoke, unified and flexible solution.
Draining the Economy
Unwanted graffiti is a growing problem. It costs the UK economy over £1 billion a year1. In London alone, the economic cost is over £100 million each year2. It appears in towns, cities and even rural areas, on bridges, railway sidings, subways, bus stops, buildings, trains and buses. London Underground spends £10 million removing spray paint and £38m replacing glass scribed with acid pens each year. Arriva had to replace 85 etched windows in a fleet of 25 buses just one month into service. Across the country, British Transport Police estimates it costs the rail industry £20 million a year3.
Taking a New Tack
But now, there are more sophisticated security systems, such as OPTEX’s CHeKT software, that can help in the fight against unwanted graffiti and stop perpetrators in their tracks, or to help build the case for a court conviction. OPTEX has been at the forefront of sensing technology and intelligent detectors with analytics for over 40 years; now its latest CHeKT software is pushing the boundaries of what is achievable, including transportable on-site security solutions for rail and logistics operators. CHeKT helps security teams build a visual, event-driven monitoring system that integrates multiple aspects of a site’s infrastructure and overlays Artificial Intelligence (AI) to make the detection of people and anti-social behaviour smarter than ever.
Rail operators are implementing innovative approaches to tackle unwanted graffiti, from planting trees in graffiti hotspots to obstruct entrance onto sites, to using CCTV images of graffiti artists caught on camera to create ‘wanted’ notices. But trees need maintenance, and anti-social behaviour is transient, moving from one location to another. Some rail operators are now installing the latest technology on remote security towers, which can be just as transient.
These towers can be installed quickly near, for example, trains being held in a siding for a short time. They can be repositioned to another site in as little as two hours at a fraction of normal infrastructure costs. They can work both day and night with dual-vision cameras combining high-end thermal cameras with a regular camera feed. Once the towers are in position, the camera detection area can be reprogrammed very quickly back at the office or control room using CHeKT software. Even if a small blind spot is found there is no need to physically return to the site; the camera can be tweaked remotely. The software is simple and intuitive enough for anyone to use.
An Intelligent Solution
CHeKT integrates deep learning camera’s, software AI and sensor technology. Included in this is OPTEX’s LIDAR sensor technology, which is a proven detection method for the train industry, such as tunnel and rail crossing applications, due to its ability to ignore false alarms from trains or animals while reliably detecting humans through its inbuilt analytics. CHeKT allows site security to be designed according to what is needed by combining any existing infrastructure or creating bespoke systems with the ability to add an additional software AI to all alarms created.
AI has huge possibilities but there are drawbacks. If a cat sits on a fence, AI can interpret the pole of the fence as a body and the cat as a head of a person, or it can mistake a horse for a bicycle. Much AI-based technology on the market fails because it is fed poor-quality video clips which are too short, making it extremely difficult to see exactly what is going on. CHeKT software produces 20-second high-quality clips, which enables AI to work at its best. It will also capture every event, ensuring AI does not filter out and potentially miss something important.
The aim of this security is not so much about catching the offenders (which is almost impossible because graffiti happens so fast – typically, a 90-second spray and the perpetrator is away); it is about stopping or identifying them in the act. CHeKT allows security officers to immediately talk to the person directly or to activate different sounders and lights to warn them and frighten them off. Every event is recorded in 20-second video clips and captures every event. If someone returns many times wearing similar clothes, even if their face is not always visible, a body of evidence can be built. When the individual is finally caught, footage of them repeatedly tagging trains over the last three months helps to get a conviction.
Social Convictions
The more convictions there are, the greater the chances we can protect not just our rail networks from the economic impact of unwanted graffiti, but also our citizens from the high social impact. When graffiti is racist, obscene and politically offensive it can be intimidating. Few elderly people went to Wimbledon Park before it was cleaned up because the graffiti made them feel unsafe. The London Borough of Richmond is hastening graffiti clean-ups on its streets and told Railtrack it will legally recover the costs of cleaning railway property rather than wait in order to help residents feel more secure.
Whether finding offenders who deface parks, car parks or public utilities or encouraging loiterers outside shops and shopping centres to move on, there is no doubt new strategies and new security technologies are transforming the way anti-social behaviour is being treated. In London, for example, security systems are being moved from one troubled hotspot to another, across a borough, following perpetrators as they shift to new locations. Intelligent visual monitoring software, video analytics with AI, thermal cameras, sensors, biometric scanning and the Internet of Things (IoT) give us the flexibility to tailor each security system to meet the needs of each site and each application.
CHeKT allows security teams to meet those requirements and to grow and adapt over time as needs change. CHeKT can integrate the old and the new technologies into a seamless and complete system managed through a single portal and can do so safely. It has 256-bit Encryption, secure socket layers and subnets, and prevents hackers from getting into your system through a router or camera to subvert your security. The system built today will be future-proofed for tomorrow.
1. https://www.seebrilliance.com/vandalism-or-art-the-cost-and-impact-of-graffiti-removal-in-the-uk/
2. Report of the London Assembly Graffiti Investigative Committee