No one wants to take any risks, so to make life safer, technology is lending a hand.

At Law Enforcement Technology Solutions, a security system seller under the Loxley Group, a new security service has been developed to make many places in Bangkok into new safety zones.

By integrating the conventional closed-circuit television (CCTV) systems with a high-speed telecommunications network, a security and monitoring network can be implemented far beyond areas that were earlier covered, said the company's managing director Karn Thongyai.

"Many places have already installed a CCTV system for security purposes, but that's not effective enough. When situations occur suddenly, how can those concerned tackle it immediately?" he said.

The company plans to better utilise the existing CCTV system to monitor and react to unusual situations at any time, and then inform the authorities in advance so they can catch suspects, while at the same time being prepared to prevent unwanted incidents.

Karn said the present CCTV networks are just stand-alone systems and could not report urgent cases to the authorities. Once they are linked, all crime prevention and protection processes could be sent to the police immediately.

The company has worked with True Corporation to launch a new safety-zone service, which will link a CCTV system to the broadband Internet network.

All pictures captured on CCTV, apart from being viewed at a location's control room, would also be sent to a central server so the company could help monitor adjacent areas from its control room.

As the company will allocate regular officials for 24-hour monitoring, the service will help owners keep watch on their premises at all times, and more importantly, if they suspect anything is wrong, they could inform the police immediately, said Karn.

A high-speed connection linked to the central server is also set up at police stations, which would allow officers to view all movements from the CCTV system on their computer screens so they could better tackle any problem.

Karn said the ultimate goal of this service was to use technology to prevent unwanted incidents before they occurred, "so it's considerably different from the existing stand-alone CCTV systems, which are used to help police gather evidence from recorded pictures after an incident takes place".

To use the service, customers including hotels, schools, banks, department stores or companies which already have a CCTV system, need to pay Bt4,000 per month for the high-speed connection and monitoring service.

However, privacy is also a major concern. For this service, Karn said the company would not record pictures from the CCTV system.

Owners would do the recording themselves, as usual. "We designed the system for live viewing only, so customers can be sure that we have no pictures at all in the server," he added.

The service is now in a trial process at five pilot sites including the Chulalongkorn Demonstration School, Conrad Hotel, Ploenchit intersection, Bangrak police station and Klong Tan police station. The company plans to launch the service next month.

The company, meanwhile, plans to work with the metropolitan police to introduce the safety-zone concept in public areas around Bangkok. It hopes that this system will help ensure better security for people.

Pongpen Sutharoj

The Nation