Surrey police are experimenting with a videoconferencing link between the town of Byfleet and the main police station in Woking. Byfleet police station is a sub office, manned only occasionally, and until now the public has had to stand outside the office and report a crime by telephone. The trial is using a British Telecommunications Plc VC6000 videoconferencing system linked via ISDN. An external security camera at Byfleet station now transmits the person’s image to officers at Woking station, who can see the caller and open the door to the station so people can enter and use the video link. The caller does not have to operate any equipment, but simply sits in front of a television screen and talks to staff in Woking. The station is also designed to be a s ecure place where a crime victim can sit and wait for help. The system was installed by partners in the project: Perimeter Security provided the external security device. The system costs ú16,000 at each end, but the police force will only have to pay for it if it decides to keep the system at the end of the six-month trial. It will be assessed on whether the local people decide they like it; if it is kept, the police will then have to buy it.
