If you are managing a school, hospital or other public sector organisation based in the south-west of England and have been directed to stop using or installing CCTV cameras manufactured by Chinese companies, we can help you.
We are established CCTV installers within the education sector and can provide a free consultation about your surveillance camera needs and an onsite survey to ensure we design a bespoke solution to suit you. We supply and install advanced camera systems from Motorola Solutions, principally their Avigilon and Ava Security solutions.
We know that with the Public Procurement Bill currently going through the House of Commons there will be more direction about the right approach to take when making all buying decisions. This comes as public bodies are already looking more seriously at their CCTV procurement in light of the spotlight put on Chinese CCTV manufacturers, such as HikVision.
There has been scrutiny on these companies by UK politicians and human rights campaigners, focusing on their role in surveillance of human rights abuses, particularly the treatment of the Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region of China, and the high level of ownership by the communist government.
This pressure has been compounded by the public statements of the Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner (BSCC), Professor Fraser Sampson, who has engaged with the Chinese-owned companies to get answers to the allegations. He has also said that procurement and adherence to the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice should be linked to the ethics of the CCTV supplier.
Last year, responding to these concerns, as we covered in a recent blog, Oliver Dowden, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster banned the use of Chinese-manufactured CCTV on sensitive government sites. This ban was welcomed by the BSCC who provided a framework for local authorities and police forces, who are legally obliged to follow the Code, to consider what would be a sensitive site so they could take the same approach as central government.
CCTV installations and upgrades take time and investment but having secure and reliable systems will save money in the long-term and ensure you are fulfilling cyber-security and data protection guidance and obligations.
We can help you through the buying process, showing you how to take a staged approach to improving your security system, while ensuring you can quickly take advantage of the features of the video management platforms, Avigilon Control Center 7 or Ava Aware, that we offer. Both provide advanced analytics allowing you to detect incidents inside or outside in your grounds quickly and help you track suspicious individuals or vehicles.
If you are a public sector organisation based in Bristol or elsewhere in south-west England contact us if you want to book a free site visit when we can consider all your CCTV needs or just want to discuss the benefits of the Avigilon or Ava Security systems. We will be delighted to help you.