Big brother CCTV cameras and sensors to help solve Wellington's begging issues
Sunday, 21 May 2017
A 'big brother' camera and sensor network, used to tackle begging on Wellington's Cuba St, is set to be rolled out across the city.
The capital has been a lab for Japanese technology company, NEC, since it signed a memorandum of understanding with Wellington City Council in 2014.
A recent Living Lab project explored how 'smart city' sensor technology could support agencies and improve safety.
Last year the 'safe city' proof of concept cost the council $80,000 to trial on Cuba St and a further $45,000 has been requested to focus on high risk areas.
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More funding would be needed in the future to keep the project moving, but council staff did not know how much.
The project focused on begging, rough sleeping, alcohol and psychoactive substance abuse.
An analytics platform collected data from new sensor technology and combined it with data held by agencies such as police, fire, emergency departments, ACC and the council.
This was then fed into a computer system that created a map with insights into day-to-day street level trends and patterns.
It also highlighted hotspots and provided real-time information to alert agencies to respond.
Video and acoustic sensors were used to count instances of begging, particularly at ATMs on Cuba St.
The information was fed to agencies that sent someone, such as a city host, to remove intimidatory beggars and help with any social issues they may also have.
NEC head of smart city solutions, Tim Packer, said said the early success would now see the trial move into production, with three release phases during the year.
Wellington was a centre of excellence for smart city technology and he believed the project was the first of its kind to use the sensors for safety.
The roll out would see acoustic sensors deployed around the city and use existing CCTV cameras, which had the capability for analytics to be built into them.
They would collect numbers and not identify faces, he said.
'We are working with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and the council privacy team to make sure we are not overstepping any bounds.'
Privacy Commissioner spokesman Charles Mabbett said the council had worked with the office on its Living Lab initiative.
The office had provided feedback about minimising the collection of personal information and advised the council to undertake a privacy impact assessment.
'Our office is of the view that it is not necessary to collect information about identifiable individuals in order to achieve the objectives.'
Council community networks safety adviser Julia Hamilton said the platform helped pick up trends and issues that were previously missed.
It would be used for future liquor licensing and homelessness policies, she said.
Police area prevention manager, Inspector Clint Walker, said police welcomed developments that kept the city and its people safe.
'It's a reality that police cannot be everywhere. We therefore support the use of technology that will reduce victimisations. This would include monitoring for antisocial behaviour, violence, vulnerable people, and breaches of the liquor ban.'
City council head of innovation Philippa Bowron said other sensor technology for pedestrian counts, street lighting, traffic measuring, graffiti prevention and air quality were in the experimental stage.
A recent trial that used 3D cameras to measure the volume of foot traffic had worked but would not be rolled out because it would be expensive.
City council strategy, innovation and communications director Jeremy Baker said partnering with NEC was a 'win-win' situation.
'They get a wonderful laboratory out of this and a partnership that can give them real feedback if something is going to work.'