In the last couple of years, Dutch train station (NS) employees were seeing an increasing amount of violence directed towards their employees. New measures were necessary, including the introduction of bodycams. Which challenges did NS employees face and what was the solution?
The challenge
In the last couple of years, the Dutch Railways were seeing an increasing amount of violence directed towards their employees. In 2017, they registered 642 incidents and a total of 183 employees suffered injuries. Safety being an important part of the NS value proposition, this was an unacceptable situation. In order to meet that promise, they had to take measures.
In 2015, the company started a trial with body cameras. This meant that 80 of their safety and service employees, who are mainly active at the stations, were equipped with bodycams. The idea was to gain experience with how travellers react to the device, while simultaneously testing different cameras.
The evaluation showed that employees feel safer when wearing a body camera and that the devices have a clear de-escalating effect as potential troublemakers misbehave less quickly when they realise that they are being filmed. These positive results have led to the railways decision to equip 700 employees with body cameras in July 2018.
Following this decision, several potential body camera suppliers were contacted and different systems tested. The solution had to meet several challenging requirements:
It had to be endlessly scalable, allowing hundreds of employees in different stations to record video, audio and GPS, with the possibility to grow the number of users indefinitely in the future.
Data safety was of the utmost importance.
The data had to go through the existing data network. This means that there were restrictions concerning data availability, the danger of overflowing the network and the negative effect to other systems on it.
The solution
Dutch Railways chose the Zepcam T2 solution, which is an endlessly scalable solution consisting of hardware and software components. Users and body cameras can be added as you go with no limitations.
The trade union and the works council both see the bodycam as a welcome measure to increase safety. However, before deployment, the NS, union and works council had to reach an agreement as to when and how the cameras would be used. They concluded that employees should be allowed to decide for themselves whether to turn on the camera and when. In any case, the Police and the Public Prosecution Service (OM) are free to request the images if they feel necessary.
The data is safely stored on premise, encrypted, and in this case, only accessible through one secure account. The docking stations are an important part of the solution. They enable not only the fast downloading of data, but also the regulation of the amount of data that goes through the data network, ensuring that it can handle the amount of information without affecting other systems negatively. The ruggedised cameras are comfortable to wear and their robustness, long battery life and recording time, meet the requirements of the users.
The integrated approach of device and software allows for fast and easy video management. In addition, ZEPCAM offers excellent customer support every step of the way, from setup, to training, to deployment.
PRODUCTS USED:
T2+ Bodycamera
Smart Docking Station
Zepcam management software
The Zepcam is amazing and super robust. It gives us a feeling of safety that we can do our job safely - Nigel Marino, Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Benefits
Scalable solution
Data safety compliance
Ease of use and efficiency
Quality of service
About ZEPCAM
Since 2009, ZEPCAM has been on a mission to make society safer. Today, over 500 customers in more than 40 countries use ZEPCAM professional bodycam solutions to protect and support their frontline professionals when it really matters. Comprising (live streaming) bodycams, a video management system and hosting solutions, ZEPCAM provides frontline professionals and their managers with the tools to do their work safely and gather evidence that will stand up in court.
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