Headcam technology used to reduce small fires
An innovative partnership between Warwickshire County Council’s Fire and Rescue Service, Children, Young People and Families Directorate and Warwickshire Police hopes to achieve a reduction in small fires using the very latest in technology in the form of headcams.
The pilot scheme is going to be run during October and November when typically small fires are on the increase due to bonfire events. The team, which will consist of firefighters, police community support officers and a youth worker, will attend all small fires during this period in a bid to engage with young people and stamp out repeat fire calls.
The team, known as ASBIT (Anti-social Behavioural Intervention Team) will be based in Camphill in Nuneaton, which is where a number of the incidents occur. The team will be deployed in a fire service vehicle each time a small fire is reported. Both the firefighters and PCSO’s will be equipped with headcams and will be able to record the incident and any aggression that may occur towards firefighting personnel.
At each incident the team will speak to the offenders and explain the dangers of repeat calls. All offenders will also be given a warning and informed that they are being recorded. It is hoped that the scheme will have a positive impact on reducing the amount of small fires over the bonfire period and therefore reduce danger to both property and life.
Area Risk Manager, Ade Mallaban said:
“This is an exciting scheme which we hope will have an impact on small fires and improve the quality of life in the community. We feel that by using the headcams, we should hopefully be able to deter some of the repeat fire calls that we receive during this very busy period. We want to explain the dangers that these fires can cause and show them that by wasting our time with repeat calls, they could delay us attending a real emergency which could result in injury or the loss of life of someone they may know.”
Chief Inspector Michael Naughton of Warwickshire Police said:
"Once officers have been on the street and captured evidence we can project the data onto a larger screen and use it for a live briefing to help us identify those involved. The evidence is submissible in court and magistrates can see in real time how someone’s behaviour develops.”
The HeadCams are essentially high tech digital cameras the size of a golf ball that record evidence in real time. They have up to 4.5 hours recording time in one go and can hold 120 hours of evidence.