News

Oldham Council equip employees with Reveal body cameras

08-10-2014

Oldham Council equip employees with Reveal body cameras

What objectives were you trying to achieve with our body cameras?

Initially the Body Cameras were purchased by the Community Safety Team and issued to our service to monitor Anti-Social Behaviour in and around the open spaces of Oldham (Parks etc)

The main reason for using the cameras is that we are a 24/7 service and part of our remit is to patrol schools and public places in the borough. It was soon realised though that they could also be utilised in other circumstances and the data gathered could be used by other agencies within the council.

Services include Highways Waste Management, Youth Integration Team, Civil Contingencies and Risk and Insurance with Legal have also expressed an interest in viewing images.

We also utilises the cameras when we have carried out repairs to Council or privately owned properties. We are able to video both before and after to prove to clients that the work was carried out and to the required standard.

We have also worked closely with our IT Team to make available a Council wide network drive where we are able to upload footage so that other agencies in the council can view and take the appropriate actions.

Have you been successful?

Since the introduction of the Body Cameras all are agreed that they have been a real deterrent when performing our services within Oldham.

This has been proved by the purchase of another 6 Body Cameras for our use.

Camera

Cameras in use are the RS3-SX (HD) with a 8gb SD card.

The front facing screen is very user friendly. The articulated camera head is also user friendly. We have found the user can rotate the head and still be able to view the display on the screen.

The easy, one –touch record button has been a real boost as the staff can record what they want and they do not feel as though the system is there to watch them and record what they have done.

The Company

Nothing but the highest praise for Reveal Media we have had no issues at all with dealing with staff at the company.

All problems and all faults that we have had with the cameras have been dealt with very efficiently.

Please note that any faults with the camera have not been down to the product but down to the operator i.e. Broken buttons due to misuse at our end.

Fault reporting is straight forward and uncomplicated unlike other companies that we deal with.

Conclusion

Overall our experience of using Reveal Media products has been excellent and I would not hesitate endorsing this product to other users