Gap Park in Sydney, Australia extends for a couple of kilometres along the top of sheer rugged cliffs facing the Pacific Ocean. It is a public space with stunning views and an ecologically sensitive environment, but sadly also a place with a history of suicides, accidents and unexplained deaths. Feeling duty-bound to do something to reduce tragedies and repair the park’s negative image Woollahra Municipal Council has implemented a master plan involving both deterrence and response measures which now include a Geutebruck Geviscope-based video security system.

A consultation with local people, mental health and crisis support agencies revealed that troubled individuals often spend several hours on the cliff tops before finally deciding to commit suicide, and that active intervention during this period might save life. So the council developed a multifaceted plan for reducing self harm incidents, improving the area’s reputation and encouraging more visitors. A key element was a video surveillance system for allowing incidents to be identified and analysed round the clock to aid rapid police intervention.

With Security Consultants International helping with design and implementation, and Kings Security with integration and installation, the council’s plan is coming to fruition. At first its tight budget only allowed for partial implementation of the CCTV design but federal funding subsequently enabled significant upgrading.

Work began with restyling the park entries, the erection of inward curving fences along the cliff edge to deter climbing, the installation of new seating and low level LED lighting to improve the ambience especially at night. New signs were installed as were two purpose-built, vandal-resistant telephone help points with autodialing for the charity Lifeline and the emergency services, together with automatic audio visual feeds and location ID. Four Bosch MIC 412 thermal PTZ cameras provided vision at night and in bad weather, at considerable distance and amongst vegetation.

Then in 2011 with the new federal funding came a GeviscopeHS/R with an expansion unit; new fixed view cameras to monitor the telephone help points; and five Moog ‘thermal & optical’ cameras for providing thermal and optical views at the same time.

The Geviscope is housed in a New South Wales National Parks building adjoining the park. Most cameras are concentrated near the north and south entrances and along the cliff-top walk. This enables monitoring centre operators to help police with missing persons searches by identifying individuals as they enter or leave the park, and to locate them if they remain in the park.

The operator at the remote security monitoring centre only views the live video and assesses the situation when requested to do so by the police. This may be because a member of the public has reported a possible incident, there has been an emergency call from a help point, or following an alert from Lifeline. The operator can also review recorded footage for post-incident investigation but only with specific permission from the Council.

Justine Henderson, communications manager and spokesperson for Woollahra Council reports, “We know the footage has been useful to police in responding to potential on site emergencies as we’ve seen an increase in use of the monitoring provided by the camera system. At the start of the project the footage was being used for retrospective investigations and now it is being used more for direct interventions – which is a good result.”

Following a successful trial using the Geviscope’s VMD function to provide automatic real time incident reporting when someone breaches the fence line and approaches the cliff edge, Woollahra Municipal Council is now seeking funding to establish a permanent analytic detection ‘fence line’. Substantially cheaper than ground-based radar, this would have the advantage of combining video display, detection and verification all in one.

“Geutebrück Pacific’s entire team are particularity proud of this project,” says managing director, Anthony Brooks. “It’s very exciting to be applying this advanced technology outside the traditional security environment where it has the potential to deliver very positive outcomes for many individuals and their families. We can’t think of a more worthwhile and satisfying project.”