Jasco has added a range of body worn surveillance solutions to its security portfolio. Worn by security and guarding personnel in a number of South African deployments, the vest has been proven in the local market. The technology enables real time tracking with geo-tagging and streaming of visuals, and has enormous potential to improve management, safety and cost and operational efficiencies in a number of industries, including security, transport and logistics, emergency response, law enforcement and facility management. The solution will be launched at Securex South Africa which runs from 12 – 14 May 2015 at Gallagher Convention Centre. The product will be demonstrated at the Jasco stand - J17.

The solution combines GPS location and tracking technologies with a body-worn camera that sends real-time images, even in low bandwidth conditions, to a dedicated centrally hosted server. Clients who subscribe to the service are issued with the vests for their personnel and are enabled with their own client monitoring software. The vests are activated and the client is provided with a secure log-in to a securely hosted environment to view images and control each vest – i.e. activate audio, visuals or tracking as needed.

Says Eckart Zollner, Head of business development at the Jasco Group: “These integrated body worn tracking and surveillance solutions offer the security and other industry sectors the capabilities they need to better manage personnel, improve service delivery, lower costs and meet Service Level agreements with their customers. The solution has been tested in the market over the last four years and has proven its efficacy in terms of the model and the technology being used. With the support of the Jasco Group – our security and technology expertise, and national footprint – we believe this product has the potential to gain significant market share locally and in Sub-Saharan Africa.

 Differentiators

“The solutions portfolio presents a good fit with our security, networking, communications and other businesses. While there are similar products in the market, few are able to steam real-time visuals, provide geo-tagging and enable remote control of features. The differentiators in detail are:

• The real-time image and video streaming technology includes advanced compression algorithms that enable use even in low bandwidth environments. A copy of the footage is stored in the vest unit, but is simultaneously streamed live to the cloud, to a server on the client’s premises, and to the data centre.
• The cameras on the vest can be controlled remotely by authorised personnel and managers. If the camera or tracking is switched off, an alert is generated at the control room. A number of additional functions are supplied as standard, such as a panic button, audio surveillance, geo-fencing and no movement alarms.
• The range of solutions are locally developed and locally manufactured
• Full support is provided nationally by Jasco’s sales and technical teams, covering activation and maintenance of the vests, technical support to manage the vests and access to the control room for live viewing. In addition, with a full software development team, Jasco is able to respond to customers bespoke development requirements.

 What’s it good for?

 In the security and guarding industry:

• Monitoring guards to ensure they stick to schedules and routes means the company no longer needs to deploy a supervisor to physically spot check personnel.
• In dangerous situations or when responding to an incident, activating the body cameras will provide real-time footage to provide irrefutable evidence of conditions at arrival, support actions taken and inform decision-making as the situation develops (e.g., potentially alert monitoring agents of the need for backup). This will minimise disputes (was the window broken at arrival, or not), ensure security staff abide by regulations in their actions and that staff are better protected.

In the transport and logistics industry:

• Drivers can be tracked via GPS to ensure scheduled routes are followed;
• That drivers take the required rest stops; and
• That no illegal passengers are in the vehicle.

 In the law enforcement:

• That police action meets legal restraints and rights are not abused;
• That police receive the backup they need; and
•  The actions of perpetrators are fully recorded.

 In facility management:

• In shopping centres, railways, bus stations and terminals, the vests can be worn by security personnel to record actions and incidents, improve apprehension and identification of perpetrators, limit collusion and monitor traffic flows.

 Industry, mines and utilities – maintenance and troubleshooting:

• Where oversight of sensitive or complex projects in the field is required, the vest provides a set of eyes to supervisors.
• Where maintenance needs to be performed remotely, the real-time visuals will enable engineers or other experts to provide informed, hands-free guidance. (well, there would need to be a means to communicate added and potentially need to chat about sensitivity of the cameras – do they function well in low light, is there infra-red?)

 High-value goods transport:

• Security guards wearing these vests will, in the case of incidents, be able to record their view of events, potentially improving the quality of evidence.
• Vests will limit collusion.

 Emergency rescue:

• Teams on the ground wearing the vest will provide co-ordinators with a first-hand view of the situation, helping to inform subsequent actions.