See the unseen

Thermal detection with A.I. technology finds objects the eye struggles to see

Imagine the difficulty a standard camera has in detecting a person, darkly dressed, between or through bushes and branches. It's a challenge for an ARC monitoring agent to differentiate between dark objects, especially as they will be monitoring a range of cameras on your site.

Even using the A.I. software that MPS bundle with the very best cameras, it's not always possible. Thermal cameras use Intrusion Analytical Detection algorithms to see what no-one else can!

Many firms choose to shut down over the holidays for many reasons (Hanukkah, Christmas, Eid, Easter, Chinese New Year, Summer holidays and many more!)

Shutdowns can mean many sites are susceptible to unauthorised access on the premises, theft of plant & machinery, retail stock, violence and even arson attacks. Skeleton staff may be subjected to verbal and physical attacks, also.

We have written at length about the upsurge in crime over the last 12 months, in both industrial and retail. Shoplifting and violence against staff has doubled. Many blame reports that police will not respond to thefts of less than £200 in retail and, consequently, criminals are taking goods less than this amount and literally walking out of stores.

A new litter of puppies means new members to our canine division! The circle of life continues with Bronx (our latest security recruit, pictured with Rudolf Baz) on his first training day, guarding Santa's sleigh! Retired Baz is showing Bronx the ropes, proving you can get an old dog to teach new tricks!

To create our elite canine section, each puppy is trained three times a day. The training is to the highest of standards, with the best people across the UK, using NASDU-qualified professional trainers only!

MPS has many examples of industrial, retail, and commercial sites struggling with crime gangs. All our security crew with canine partners are former ex-service officers, trained to correctly detain and arrest offenders, compiling evidence when prosecutions are warranted.

MPS has worked for 40 years in the security business and has been constantly evolving to meet new law-breaking trends. Crime is constantly changing. The need to have a canine unit has, subsequently, developed over the last decade to offer a steadfast and complete solution.

Seasonal shutdowns (E.g., Christmas and Easter) mean many sites are even more susceptible to unauthorised trespass, theft, violence, and arson. Additionally, there are areas on many sites that cannot be covered by traditional CCTV due to a lack of power availability. MPS’s equipment supplier, IMC, launched The Watchman, a battery/solar rapid deployment tower, to further assist with these problems in remote sites.

You can’t stop crime, but you can move it.

Security does work!

WHAT’S THE SPECIAL DEAL FOR BLACK FRIDAY?

Between 24 November and 08 December (5pm), MPS is offering 25% discount on all of IMC’s body-worn cameras and SOS devices!

IMC GC550 Body-Cam RRP: £240, Black Friday price: £170

IMC Guardian SOS Device RRP: £120, Black Friday price: £85

Guarantee your discount simply by registering your interest. Call or email us whilst our Black Friday offer is open. If we have your details, we will guarantee these discounted prices up to 31st December 2023.

0800 626 102

info@maxprotection.co.uk

Maximum Protection Services recently suppled around 100 IMC body-worn cameras to Merseyside and Nottinghamshire Household Waste and Recycling Centres (HWRC).

After being applauded as heroes in the pandemic, essential workers subsequently reported a doubling of incidents involving physical and verbal abuse. For Veolia, the leading waste management company, abuse is reported to have arisen due to customers being stuck behind collection vehicles in the streets and from having to queue at recycling centres.

MPS stocks the perfect safety products to improve and develop StreetKind’s programme objectives. When Veolia launched ‘StreetKind’, it included a comprehensive training programme to build a safer workplace, aimed at taking stronger action against those who abused or endangered frontline staff.

I have worked with MPS since 2021 to develop the CCTV at 10 of Veolia Treatment sites across Hampshire and also at the regional offices at Otterbourne.

MPS were suggested by Veolia’s Supply Chain Manager, initially, for one of our MRF sites after issues with the quality and efficiency of the CCTV system and the lack of support from the previous supplier.

When I approached MPS for a quotation, Brian from MPS visited the MRF site early 2021 to survey, discuss the existing system, and make recommendations for a BS8418:2015 compliant system, which meant we could have a police URN/Response. Brian then discussed our expectations and requirements thoroughly, which others had not.

The takeover was not as easy as expected due to failures in the original installation by the previous installation company however MPS engineers made the system as it should have been, improving the efficiency and the performance of the cameras and actually completing the commissioning which the previous supplier was unable to do (who left us with a system that did not work).

Since this site has been under MPS, the number of engineer visits outside the normal scheduled maintenance has been minimal. This was relatively unheard of before MPS took the system on with almost bi-weekly visits by both the prior CCTV suppliers.

A member of Staff from one of our valued Customers at Costco Wholesale (Wembley, London, UK)

This member of staff at Costco Wembley was delighted to wear the store’s first Guardian SOS Device from MPS’s new product distributor, IMC.

The IMC Guardian SOS Device has been designed to be a discreet ID Card Holder on a lanyard. To others this would appear to be a ID Card Holder however it is actually an SOS Device also commonly known as a Panic Alarm.

The Guardian Device has a range of customisable and programmable features. One of which is the emergency SOS Button located on the back. In the event of an emergency situation the User can activate the SOS Button by holding for 2 seconds or pressing twice (to reduce false alarms). This triggers a High Priority Alarm to our NSI Gold Category Two Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) which will open a two way audio communication channel and upon confirmation the Operator will request Police assistance utilising the Police URN (Unique Reference Number) which allows the ARC a direct link to the Users local Police Control Room which has an Average Response time of 10 minutes opposed to utilising 999 which does not guarantee a Police response and results in a longer Police Response time.

We love to hear from our customers.

Having the best CCTV and VMS solutions is really important and that’s what MPS delivers. How we install these systems is one of the project management fundamentals we develop alongside you from quotation to switching on! Firstly, you want minimal disruption. That includes mess, ladders, noisy engineers, time lost due to interruptions, etc. At MPS, the installation is just as important as the finished top-end, world class system we’re delivering! Our engineers are organised, tidy and polite. They will ensure the least amount of business disruption and are highly conscious of your business needs.

When we receive a letter telling us our engineers worked like superstars, turning what might seem like a difficult process into a pleasure, we really appreciate the feedback. We check how happy you are with our performance throughout the installation and once we’ve finished. When a customer chooses to write to us to highlight the excellent work our MPS engineers have delivered, it shows they have delivered over and above expectations. We could not be more proud than the email from MC at Veolia:

“Hi Alexandra,

I been meaning to email you all day just to mention that Mike and the other engineer who assisted him was excellent whilst installing our system. They were a credit to your company and could not have been more helpful and informative.

I feel its always good to send positive feedback as people are to quick to send negative and not so quick to send positive.

I did thank the boys yesterday but if you can reiterate my comments it would be greatly appreciated.

Regards, MC.”

Body worn cameras and panic alarms help essential workers to feel safe!

Technology can be a life saver! It can also increase safety which improves happiness and productivity.

After being applauded as heroes in the pandemic, essential workers have subsequently reported a doubling of incidents involving physical and verbal abuse.

For Veolia, the leading waste management company, abuse is reported to have arisen due to customers being stuck behind collection vehicles in the streets and from having to queue at recycling centres.

When Veolia launched ‘StreetKind’, it included a comprehensive training programme to build a safer workplace, aimed at taking stronger action against those who abused or endangered frontline staff. Key training components also included defusing situations and knowing how to handle each incident. These tenets are central to the training programme.

Body worn cameras help employees feel safer in the workplace! That is the finding from The Retail Trust. This article explains the background and the results in more detail.

Violence against retail staff has increased considerably in the last decade. Many staff, classed as essential workers during the pandemic and hailed as heroes, have responded to say they believe incidents have literally doubled in the last 2 years. Consequently, body worn cameras are being rolled out by retailers to protect their employees.

A survey by Retail Trust in 2022 questioned a thousand retail staff. They found that two thirds believed that verbal and physical attacks had increased significantly in the last two years. Additionally, over two thirds of respondents reported stress and anxiety about going to work as a result of this. Finally, almost 50% of those key members of staff had considered resigning.

During your business open hours, we review your business activity. Our alerts are not solely for security concerns, there’s so much more we can do to help how you do business and to ensure you know when customers need your help. Your team is alerted when they are onsite and they can meet and greet, saving customers having to seek them out. After hours, we’re monitoring your building and grounds. Our thermal detectors will spot body heat and alert when fires are lit (long before smoke detectors. Intruders can be verbally warned and police can be onsite far sooner because we have called them.

Make It

Are your staff wearing hi-vis vests?

Is there an area where they can’t walk for their own safety? How many people do you have on site? Is there a fire starting? Who has access, who has clearance, who is banned? Did your old security system alert you constantly at night when foxes and badgers roam the area? Our AI systems ignore creatures, only counting humans walking, in wheel chairs on bikes, etc. We reduce false positive alerts, ensuring our monitoring station has the maximum time to focus on your actual security alerts promptly and with a high degree of success.

AI technology is offering qualified alerts to scenarios we develop alongside you to counter new and perceived threats. We can now not only distinguish humans from objects and animals, we can count the number of people entering and leaving an area and set alerts if the number of people in a defined area reaches a certain number. Being able to predict high numbers of people based on the level of increase, we can step in front of potential problems and ensure a solution is enacted before the numbers become critical.