Facewatch chosen as standard equipment in winning Police car

Vauxhall Cars wins ACPO future technology challenge 

•  Astra Sports Tourer wins ACPO future technology challenge
•  Equipment including Facewatch and forensic and face-recognition software wows judges
•  British-built and converted in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire and Millbrook, Bedfordshire
•  Police fleet dominance for Vauxhall with 70 per cent market share

A crime-busting Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer, installed with Facewatch and other leading edge technology, has won a challenge from the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) to find a way of incorporating future technology into a Police car.

The British-built Astra Sports Tourer featuring three computers is armed with Facewatch, forensics and facial-recognition software plus several high-quality cameras able to record activity around the vehicle. This CCTV footage can be streamed on-the-move and uploaded to Facewatch, the online crime database.  Facewatch also provides instant feeds of crimes reported through the system as they happen, including moving CCTV footage and images of suspects.

This special Astra Sports Tourer is the Police car for the iPhone generation with witness of crime photography collected via 3G connectivity. The vehicle is also equipped with software that predicts future crime hotspots.

A sophisticated black box, equipment that’s usually only found in aircraft, collects data on the Astra including speed, location and miles per gallon amongst numerous others.    Officers are also able to dock Toughbook laptops and rugged smart phones.

To push the crime-fighting technology on even further, Vauxhall formed a consortium with specialist firms including Daetech Systems, TetraTAB, Airmax Group, Innaxys,Trans-tag, Kelvin Connect, Civica, Videolatitude, Imagebase and Facewatch.

Police fleet market leaders Vauxhall produced the base vehicle at their facility in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire and carried out the special conversion at their base at Millbrook Proving Ground, Bedfordshire.

This vehicle exceeds Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Bernard Hogan-Howe’s directives for the police car to be the mobile office, so cops are always out in the field rather than back at the station.

ACPO are so impressed that the Astra Sports Tourer was the star exhibit at a police and security conference in Farnborough and will be taken to numerous conferences around the world. It’s the second year running that Police fleet market leaders have won ACPO’s challenge after romping to victory with a futuristic Ampera extended range electric vehicle last year.

“This British-built and converted Astra Sports Tourer will help make police officers more efficient. It becomes their office and allows them to spend more time on the road fighting crime,” said Dick Ellam, Vauxhall’s Special Vehicles Manager.

Simon Gordon, Chairman of Facewatch Ltd added, “It is an enormous privilege to have been chosen as a technology partner with Vauxhall. I am sure that Facewatch integrated and working together with the other break-through tech in the car will make a significant contribution to making all our communities safer.”

Facewatch benefits:

•             Online crime reporting using any device with an internet browser

•             No special equipment required – a computer with broadband access is all you need

•             Works with any existing CCTV system or even without CCTV for reporting only

•             Perfect for shops, licensed premises, hotels and all CCTV monitored premises

•             Image sharing in groups such as Pubwatches, Shopwatches, BIDs, shopping centres, high streets, retail chains and larger retail groups

•             Direct link to local police forces and appropriate officers – police update the crime status throughout the investigation and can use the system for secure messaging between the business and case officers which remains on the case file

•             Creation of posters showing images of banned or suspect persons for use by staff

•             Full statistical analysis with key performance indicators showing police status and success rates in solving the crimes

•             Fully supported by the police and the only system to be accredited by ACPO ‘Secured by Design’.

•             Creation of full evidential pack including automatic witness statements and crime reference online by the business user

•             Free cancellation of victim’s credit and debit cards

•             Victim and business updated by police on progress of crime investigation by email

Endorsements:

Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan Howe, Metropolitan Police Service

“Excellent technology for fighting crime, reducing bureaucracy and saving time”.

Sir Hugh Orde, President of the Association of Chief Police Officers,

“I am pleased to support Facewatch for its practical use of technology in the fight to combat crime. The system is a catalyst for businesses and police to join together; a great example of citizens and communities getting involved alongside the police”.

Michael Laurie, Crimestoppers’ Chief Executive

“This is an exciting opportunity to further develop Crimestoppers’ range of services for the public in providing them with an anonymous route to pass on information about crime as well as an opportunity to embrace the business community. Facewatch not only gives us access to the very latest database and mobile technology but will also enable us to further empower individuals and communities in the fight against crime. The partnership of Facewatch and Crimestoppers with the support of Chiefs of Police creates a world leading example of public and private sector co-operation”.

Facewatch systems accreditations:

ISO 9001

ACPO – Secured by design (Association of chief Police officers)

Fully data protection compliant

Facewatch Q&A

What is Facewatch?

Facewatch is the first online crime reporting and communications system using social media and mobile tools to enable the public, businesses and the police to work together to beat crime.

What makes Facewatch different and unique?

Facewatch provides a single cloud based resource that enables suspects’ images, moving CCTV evidence and paperless automated witness statements to be uploaded by businesses to the police through one simple interface via any internet connected device. This open system approach gives businesses, the public and the police an open but highly secure platform to enable faster and more effective crime management and communications.

What success has Facewatch currently had?

Facewatch is the only system to have been awarded gained the 'Approved Secured by Design' status.  Secured by Design is the official UK Police flagship initiative supporting the principles of 'designing out crime'.

Facewatch was launched in early 2010 and is fully operational in London; it has 6,000 current business users. The system is in the process of being rolled out to all police forces across the UK.

What other products have been developed by the organisation?

Facewatch launched a mobile phone App (Facewatch ID) in partnership with the MET police and British Transport Police in June 2012 to enable the public to identify images of suspects by postcode in the London area. There have been over 63,000 downloads of the App and 8m image views already with hundreds of ID's.  The App is now being made available to all Police forces and has recently been launched in Surrey and Northampton with more to follow shortly.

A communications portal to enable London Hotels to share security information during the Olympic Games was successfully launched and is now an established resource for the London Hotel community.  Facewatch will be used as part of the Olympic communictions hub legacy strategy for all sectors across the UK.

What changes does Facewatch make to society?

Trials in London have shown that Facewatch acts as a strong deterrent to low level crime. Police are able to view CCTV evidence instantly and information can be shared between businesses instantly. Police will save hundreds of millions of pounds of wasted administrative time so they can concentrate on catching and prosecuting offenders.

At its heart Facewatch creates online communities that work together to improve our safety and security.

What are the next steps?

Facewatch continues to develop crime reporting solutions using the most appropriate technology and will be announcing further new products in the UK.

Facewatch

For more information please contact:

Simon Gordon, Facewatch Chairman

Email@ Simon@facewatch.co.uk

Mob: 07824 440265

Office: 020 7930 3225

Stuart Greenfield – PR Consultant

Email: stuart@greenfield.co.uk

T: 07788 662697

Website: www.facewatch.co.uk

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