Samurai sword attack
After an incident in a church in South London where church-goers were attacked by a man with a samurai sword, and a similar, but fortunately less serious one in Croydon, Blitz was approached by Croydon Minster to design a CCTV system to monitor entrances and interior of the Minster. Several speed-dome cameras were fitted and set to constantly patrol the general areas of the Minster. Unobtrusive movement detectors were installed to trigger the speed-dome cameras to quickly capture activity in several key areas when movement was detected. A digital video recorder (DVR) was installed to record and retain images for a minimum of two weeks.
Theft of lead from roofs
Later when there was a very significant theft of lead from the North roof, Blitz was asked to extend the system to all roof areas and to some areas of the grounds from where access to the roofs could be made. These cameras needed to be able to see in almost total darkness. Sadly, while roof repairs were being carried out and before the CCTV upgrade had been approved there was a second serious theft of lead from a different roof area by the same gang of thieves – who incidentally have since been caught and jailed – but not before causing massive damage to the Minster and of course cost .The upgrade to the system, now completed, includes infrared capable cameras on all roof areas which can see in total darkness, coupled with movement detectors which will alert the Blitz Security Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) if anyone is detected – even at night.
24-hr Monitored CCTV
Croydon Minster is a very beautiful building both inside and outside and of course one of great historical and cultural importance. It is very sad to see such wonderful buildings suffer hundreds of thousands of pounds of damage for the sake of couple of hundred pounds worth of scrap metal.
It is also hard to understand a society where people in the street or in a church can be attacked on a whim. And it is sad that we are forced to protect ourselves and our heritage with security measures that would have been unthinkable a generation ago. It is our task at Blitz Security to provide effective but unobtrusive protection for people and property against these 21st-century threats.
