With an estimated 1 million ASB incidents recorded by the Police in the year ending September 2024, anti-social behaviour remains a prominent issue for many Local Authorities and Councils.
From community uproar and increased public safety risks to criminal damage and decreased property values, the consequences of ASB expand far.
We explore why ASB deterrence matters and how WCCTV’s all-in-one solutions are specifically designed to support this.
The Growing Challenge of Anti-Social Behaviour
Anti-social behaviour covers an umbrella of crimes, including vandalism, fly-tipping, rowdy behaviour, trespassing and street drinking.
Due to the vast crimes covered under this, anti-social behaviour can be difficult to manage and for many Public Sector organisations, the challenge continues to grow.
ASB creates a hostile, unsafe environment that leaves individuals feeling unwelcome in their own communities, and in worse case scenarios, placing them in no other position, but to move.
The impact on businesses is also severe, often reducing footfall on high streets, causing operational disruption and leading to expensive cleanup costs.
Tackling ASB is a top priority for Local Authorities for this exact reason, and with funding becoming more available, organisations have been looking for external offerings that can support them with this.
The public sector tendering process is competitive and selecting the right security solution is vital to securing funding to help reduce and prevent such crime.
Losing out on funding is likely to create further community and business disruption in which your organisation will need to manage. With stretched budgets and resources, this makes for an extremely difficult task.
We have developed effective, efficient all-in-one solutions for ASB deterrence, ensuring key features and preventative tools are fitted to provide enhanced protection against such crime.
Our Complete ASB Deterrence All-in-One Solutions
We offer two key fully-managed security solutions: Redeployable CCTV Cameras and Rapid Deployment CCTV Towers.
Both backed by the same service, their design aims to support varying environments and their security needs.
Our Redeployable CCTV Cameras require no infrastructure and can be attached to lampposts, buildings and poles across different settings.
However, in comparison, our Rapid Deployment CCTV Towers are freestanding units, standing up to 6 metres in height that provide an enhanced overt presence and proactive crime prevention.
Although, we believe the product is important to the success of ASB deterrence, we think that the service that backs this is just as vital to this.
We explore the key features involved in WCCTV’s ASB deterrence solutions and the benefits they bring to preventing and tackling the issues presented within your community.
Rapid Deployment and Relocatability
Our systems can be set up in 20-minutes for standard installations, providing any location with near-enough immediate coverage.
The faster a visible deterrent is deployed, the greater chance of preventing ASB crime and any escalations relating to this.
Our ASB deterrence solutions are designed to be fully operational in hours, not weeks, and their portable design allows them to be positioned wherever security is needed the most. This could be at an ASB hotspot, whether that’s on a busy high street or in a quiet rural carpark.
With no need for complex infrastructure or lengthy planning requirements, our systems’ agility provides prompt protection of any problem areas and sends a clear message to any would-be offenders that the area is under constant surveillance.
And alongside rapid deployment comes flexibility. Patterns of ASB will often shift and new threats will emerge, and our solution can be easily relocated to new hotspots.
This allows you to focus your efforts where they will have their biggest impact, protecting those areas most affected by such issues.
Real-Time Monitoring for Proactive Responses
Traditional CCTV systems often rely on the reviewing of recorded footage following an incident, providing a purely reactive response to anti-social behaviour. This does little to nothing for ASB deterrence.
With our ASB deterrence solutions, we have transformed this approach by enabling real-time monitoring and crime prevention.
Backed by remote monitoring services, trained operators will keep watch of your live video feed, tracking threats and responding instantly if a situation develops.
This response includes live audio challenges, sirens and even calling Police to the scene to help intercept the live incident.
In addition to this, the AI video analytics built into our cameras monitor small changes in behaviour such as loitering and groups gathering to provide you with the best tools for early intervention.
This service is offered 24/7 and ensures you have constant coverage of any location or ASB hotspot.
Live Audio Challenges to Prevent Crime Before it Happens
One of the most effective forms of deterrence with anti-social behaviour is to confront any potential offenders in the moment, helping to prevent it from escalating into anything more serious.
Our ASB deterrence solutions are fitted with audio deterrence features which can be accessed via trained professionals at our remote monitoring centre and utilised when needed.
Would-be offenders are much less likely to commit a crime if they are aware they’re being watched by real humans and not just a camera.
The live audio challenge feature included within our service allows these security professionals to cater their response to any would-be offenders, letting them know of the risks they face.
Additional Features WCCTV’s ASB Solution Offers
Although rapid deployment, real-time monitoring and audio challenges are at the core of our ASB deterrence solutions, at WCCTV, we offer additional features that support this further.
There are three main additional features all our solutions offer that aim to elevate and enhance your response to anti-social behaviour.
Customisability Through Camera Add-Ons
ASB patterns shift and so do their locations. With this comes varying environments and security requirements which one camera type alone may not suit.
Our systems all offer high-quality camera technology, however, most importantly we offer add-ons such as ANPR integrations, site monitoring sensors and thermal imaging that enhance your response further.
We understand that every environment is different, and therefore you need to be able to alter your security to this to ensure effectiveness in your service.
For example, you have a layby facing high numbers of fly-tipping incidents and in addition to needing a monitoring solution to prevent this, you may also wish to record vehicle registrations also.
With this, you can attach an ANPR integration to our solutions to help monitor individuals’ behaviour and vehicles also. This saves on suppliers and the need to manage multiple systems.
Real-Time Performance Monitoring for Early Error Detection
Like with any technology, there is a risk for error or malfunctioning of equipment, even if this is small.
However, even a small lapse in security could spell disaster, and in that time the damage could already be done.
ASB incidents can be extremely costly, both with the actual financial implications and in the consequences caused amongst your community following an event or group of events.
To avoid this, our solutions are fitted with real-time performance monitoring via our in-house software, Heartbeat.
This technology regularly checks your equipment for key areas of concern to alert for any issues that could impact the functionality of your security and cause downtime.
As such, it provides us with the best opportunity for early intervention, allowing us to schedule the relevant response as soon as the alert is flagged.
Most issues can be resolved through a reset of your equipment and we have this feature specifically built-in to do this, without any need for an engineer’s visit.
High-Quality Camera Technology for Enhanced Prevention
Poor camera quality could create disruption by causing the late detection of threats or unusable evidence for any criminal proceedings, hence why we ensure our cameras are of the highest standards for the systems we use.
All of our cameras include features such as, Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) and infrared capabilities, a near-360 degree view and crystal clear imagery. This ensures proactive monitoring and usable evidence if required for any prosecutions.
Anti-social behaviour can escalate quickly and early detection is important in deterring crime and avoiding any severe incidents, which often have rippling effects on a community.
Also, the importance of gaining high-quality footage plays a key role in prosecutions for offenders found to be engaging in anti-social behaviour.
Criminal prosecutions and fines are all encompassed under ASB deterrence and our solutions centralise this just as much as the prevention methods themselves.
ASB Deterrence Case Studies: WCCTV’s Proven Effectiveness
Having supported Public Sector organisations for over 20-years now, we understand the enormity of ASB and the impact it has on communities, businesses and on you.
WCCTV’s ASB deterrence solutions have proven to successfully prevent and reduce crime across various communities and businesses.
Below we walk through two organisations we supported through the use of our solutions:
Durham Constabulary
Newton Aycliffe was previously highlighted as having serious challenges around anti-social behaviour.
The problems had escalated so much, parts of the town were branded as 'no-go' areas, and residents were left fearing for their safety.
Initially, they had Police patrols scheduled within those areas, however, to help improve this, they needed a new approach to reduce crime and improve community safety.
To tackle the ASB challenges head-on, Durham Constabulary's Neighbourhood Policing Team sourced five of our Redeployable CCTV cameras to be installed across this area.
During the trial period alone, the cameras were shown to have contributed to a 50% reduction in reported crime rates across the town.
As highly visible, overt CCTV systems, their visual presence sent a warning to offenders that they were being monitored and this helped to prevent crime across those hotspots.
Nottinghamshire Council
As part of Nottinghamshire Council’s Safer Streets Project, Broxtowe Borough were able to upgrade their analogue cameras to our state-of-the-art Redeployable CCTV cameras following funding in hopes of curbing anti-social behaviour and other criminal activity within the area.
Beeston was facing issues surrounding anti-social behaviour and other criminal activity that left the local community feeling unsafe.
Especially during darker evenings where criminal activity became more prominent.
ASB crime prevented individuals from entering the town centre at night due to the lack of safety they may feel and heightened risk of being a victim of such crime.
Following a consultation with one of our public sector safety experts, Nottinghamshire Council invested in our Redeployable CCTV Cameras as part of this project to help reduce anti-social behaviour in public spaces, improve safety and capture criminals in the act.
Equipped with advanced night vision capabilities and 24/7 monitoring and evidence gathering software, they ensure constant support that allow incidents to be responded to quickly and help with any subsequent legal proceedings.
Following the implementation of our CCTV Cameras along with Nottinghamshire Police and Broxtowe Borough Council’s ongoing work in the area, there was a 66% reduction in burglaries, a 45% drop in vehicle crime and a 27% decrease in anti-social behaviour.
The Next Steps With WCCTV’s ASB Deterrence Solutions
Anti-social behaviour is a growing challenge across many areas of the UK and our ASB deterrence solutions aim to support you in your next steps towards tackling such issues.
Whether it’s a busy urban setting or rural village, our market-leading Redeployable CCTV Cameras and Rapid Deployment CCTV Towers provide a wealth of benefits. Mainly, transforming criminal hotspots into safe environments for both the public and businesses.
With all our products, they are backed by a fully-managed service that provides support from day one.
From installing our equipment, providing ongoing customer care and technical support to relocating equipment and supporting any emerging needs along the way.
For trusted ASB deterrence and surveillance, WCCTV is here to provide the right solution that works to support your needs in an effective, efficient manner.
Speak with one of our experts today to understand how we can support you in tackling ASB today!
