Effective Academic Property Protection
A Success Story with Malmö City
Summary
Malmö municipality has chosen OPAX as an IP-video content analytics system for school perimeter protection. Video content analytics (VCA) has been used for some time to protect areas of the municipality, in particular schools, from destruction and theft. As the use of VCA increases, so have the demands for performance and reliability. After a selection process, OPAX is the preferred VCA system to be used for perimeter protection of schools.
Background
As the third largest city in Sweden (pop. 300,000), Malmö has had its fair share of vandalism concerns and, without proper precautions, have proven a disturbing trend. Between 2001-2006, damages ran up towards the SEK 60 million mark. In 2009 alone, vandalism cost Malmö city SEK 28 million (EUR 3.1 million). In school districts, elementary schools were overrepresented in this area.
Costs are also not limited to financials; there is the emotional and psychological aspect to consider. Schools fraught with vandalism, fire and break-ins are not conducive to calm and nurturing environments necessary for effective learning. They can easily affect concentration levels and the emotional well-being in children.
Solution Overview
Malmö Municipality has chosen OPAX Academic Property Protection which automatically monitors a perimeter, detecting perpetrators before they do harm. Based on OPAX award-winning video content analysis software, the solution creates a situational awareness and can direct security guards to the right position at the right time. This not only enables proactive hindering of burglaries and vandalism, but also allows for large savings in security personnel. With a total cost of ownership less than half of traditional security systems, OPAX Academic Property Protection help schools and universities
stay safe and on budget.
A video-analytics solution is built to be integrated into an existing security infrastructure. OPAX provides an open, software-only platform that instantly adds substantial value to an existing video surveillance solution. Both analogue and digital cameras already in place can be utilized, enhancing their value by improving the quality and lowering the costs of surveillance.
Results
In Malmö, schools with camera surveillance have been able to reduce damage on average by around SEK one million per year. After cameras with OPAX’s intelligent software were installed, for example, a Rosengård school was able to save 1.5 million SEK due to a 95% reduction in window-smashing incidents.
With the aid of strategically placed cameras and cooperating security firms, the police have been able to track down arsonists and vandalism has decreased. Establishing proper procedures, camera surveillance and advanced software are all components to this successful initiative.
“It is vital that every component in our integrated solutions is state-of-the-art as our customers have high expectations on performance and availability. This is why we have chosen OPAX.”
Johan Gustafsson, Business Manager
Schneider Electric
