1. University College London Human Centered Systems
“Man or a Gorilla?” Performance Issues with CCTV Technology In Security Control Rooms
University College London Human Centered Systems
Hina Keval
iea 2006 Maastricht, The Netherlands: 10-14th July.
iea 2006 maastricht, The Netherlands: 10-14th July.

2. Overview of Talk
Introduce: HCI/Ergonomics in context of CCTV control rooms
Describe: Research problems with digital CCTV and control room operations
Discuss: Pitfalls with previous control room Research
Research findings from field work at 5 CCTV control rooms
Future work
Q & A
iea 2006 maastricht, The Netherlands: 10-14th July.

3. Research Arena: CCTV & HCI/Ergonomics
CCTV first used in London Underground 1961
Estimated excess of 14 million cameras in UK today
Several changes in security have occurred:
Crime rates gone up
Terrorist attacks
Perceived fear of crime risen
Advances in CCTV technology
Usage scenarios changing
Increased funding
CCTV Originally for combating shoplifting what is known as petty crime, dvpd by photoscan in the 60’s.
First official use of video surveillance at football matches (1975)
CCTV is everywhere est excess of 14m cameras
Users of CCTV range from public city centre users: such as the council to private owner (for eg. Business owners and home owners).
Several changes in security such as rise in the types and numbers of crime -> large scale crime (terrorism) -> consequently the perceived fear of crime has risen.
CCTV technology has also changed. Since the mid 90’s systems operated using analogue technology – now CCTV is recorded and configured through digital mediums and networks.
These changes has led to a larger number of uses for CCTV and a large no. of CCTV stakeholders:
Developers, installers, consultants, security managers, operators, police and forensic experts right through to general public users. For e.g. “asbo CCTV”
And in turn has meant more users are investing in CCTV.
iea 2006 maastricht, The Netherlands: 10-14th July.

4. Research Questions: CCTV Control Rooms
More applications are being integrated into existing systems
No assessment on operator task performance within CCTV control rooms
How are operators coping with information demands in busy control rooms?
Are control rooms physically designed to support cognitive tasks?
The increase in crime rates had meant that control room managers applying for funding for more CCTV cameras to increase surveillance coverage
Because of the flexibility with digital video, there are a number of intelligent tools such as ANPR, facial recognition, person tracking that can be introduced into public city centre control room systems.
More and more systems are being added on to existing legacy systems – It is important that CCTV users step back to review whether the overall system is functioning effectively and efficiently and most importantly are the goals for CCTV being met by the system and staff operations?
iea 2006 maastricht, The Netherlands: 10-14th July.

5. Previous Research: CCTV Control Rooms
Several ethnographic studies have studied workplace interactions
Air traffic control centres (1)
Ambulance control rooms (2)
Transport control rooms (3)
Findings descriptive not prescriptive
Very little analysis on HCI issues & design changes for
tasks & technology set-up.
No evidence of any ethnographic based evaluations where CCTV task performance is examined from a HCI perspective. In CSCW research, a large body of ethnographic work in a wide variety of control centres have been carried out to examine the communication and collaboration of operators and other teams.
A review of these studies have shown very little evidence of the analysis of problems. Most of the control room observations are reported in a rather descriptive manner – and there is very little analysis on the problems identified with tasks and the technology usage in and outside the control room.
The evaluations provide rather thick descriptions of tasks and activities, but leave less scope for improving performance and workplace design – which is not so useful for stakeholders at the higher level of the STS such as the control room designers, managers and technology consultants.
The HO CCTV evaluations looked at critically assess government and police claims that CCTV cameras are highly
effective, both in reducing crime and the ‘fear of crime’ among the general public. The emphasis on these longitudinal studies were to identify whether CCTV as a tool for security actually reduced crime – Interestingly one of Martin Gill’s conclusions were that CCTV did not reduce crime but worked well as a deterrent. The study took place whilst many of the technology changes with CCTV were taking place – so we still don’t know how operators today are using modern surveillance artefacts in the control room.
Home Office evaluations (4 & 5)
Use of technology in control rooms not examined
CCTV technology changing at the time of the study
iea 2006 maastricht, The Netherlands: 10-14th July.

6. Previous Research: Cont…
Luff and Heath (1992) London Underground Control Room Study (3)
Some design issues given
Ergonomics practice & HCI barriers to task performance ignored
Purchasing expensive equipment
Radically re-designing control room environment processes
One of the studies that takes a task approach to studying the way operators work in C/room envts was conducted by Luff and Heath in the early 90’s.
They set out to understand the organisation of collaborative activity within a real world setting.
Naturalistic Study that looks at task co-ord & focussed on organisational conduct & social interaction as a basis for the design & dvpt of tools & tech to support collab. Work.
Based on the ethnographic work, Luff proposed a number of design changes purposely to support operator tasks:
Individuals and group wk was found disjointed - They proposed the use of a large screen and electronic pens for improving collaboration and communication when dealing with timetable information.
The design considerations focussed mainly around improving collaborative work by using a shared workspace.
The physical workplace design and the cognitive ergonomics aspect of the control room design was not discussed.
Design considerations involved management introducing expensive technology to improve collaboration and group and individual tasks
Again this study largely focussed on describing how activities are done and how work is socially organised in the worki envt, and very little effort was made on proposing changes to tasks and workstation layouts.
iea 2006 maastricht, The Netherlands: 10-14th July.

7. CCTV Control Room Research
GOALS…
Understand the organisational & general practices of CCTV control rooms within large cities.
Identify types of technology used by operators & how they were used.
Identify limitations concerning tasks and system design.
The socio-technical role of CCTV was examined within 5 CCTV Control Rooms: Human Computer Interaction perspective.
Field visits consist of mainly 5-8 hours of natural overt observations.
Questions throughout the observation period were asked about tasks and activities – i.e. what is that system you are using, when it is used, Why are you contacting someone on radio etc..
26 operators were interviewed:
Please describe your role as a control room operator
What hours of work are you assigned? Are you happy with your working hours?
What tasks & activities do you carry out on a day-to-day basis?
Tell me exactly how you do your work?
Does this control room use analogue or digital technology?
What tools do you use to help you carry out your tasks?
What problems have you found with the technology you use?
iea 2006 maastricht, The Netherlands: 10-14th July.

8. night knife incidents & drug taking in car
Control Rooms Visited
Control
Room
Operator
Camera
Ratio
Technology
Employed
Security Centre
Manager’s Goal(s)
Most Crime Observed
in Control Room A
19:160
Digital &
Analogue
Traffic
enforcement &
surveillance
Shoplifting, assault,
noise, ASBO (Anti
Social Behavioural
Orders) violated
(50%:50%) B
6:110
Monitor incidents
and crime
Teenage ‘hoody’ bike
gangs – mobile phone
theft, assault C
3:90
Digital
Prevent crime and
protect the public
Theft, club/pub late
night knife incidents & drug taking in car
parks D
6:111
Review images on
behalf of police
Hard drug use &
supply, late night
drinking and violence E
23:200
Digital & Analogue
Provide council
support &
Violence, illegal
rubbish/car dumping
& theft
(70%:30%)
Clear from op comments – camera feeds were increasing yet staff levels were dropping – during visits many staffs were off sick or on leave and no cover was provided, managers reported that it was very hard to find good operators…but this was a challenge as the pay and work benefits were poor.
2. Most c/rooms were in the process of deploying new dig syst – it was clear many changes were taking places with the control room equipment and layout – mainly expansion of CCTV screens and addition of new equipment.
3. Goals and envt being observed differs a lot betw. c./rooms – each control room manage had different priorities for CCTV
iea 2006 maastricht, The Netherlands: 10-14th July.

9. Operator Tasks Identified
REACTIVE TASKS
- Responding
(2) PROACTIVE TASKS
- Monitoring
(3) ADMINISTRATION TASKS
Tape labelling and preparing copies for police
Creating incident reports
(1) Reactive : RESPOND TO REQUESTS – cued information
- radio calls from various groups (businesses, LA, police force, PCSO’s)
- Respond to neighbourhood problems via telephone
- Responding to enquiries from LA
(2) Proactive : MONITORING OF CAMERAS
- Monitoring CCTV camera activity
- Monitoring traffic enforcement cameras
(3) ADMINISTRATION WORK
Tape labelling
Preparing working copies of evidence for police
Creating incident reports
iea 2006 maastricht, The Netherlands: 10-14th July.

10. Problems Identified CAN’T SEE “You don’t get us watching TV anymore”
(2) TOO MUCH INFO
“They just keep adding cameras.”
“I can hardly concentrate in hear, it’s so noisy”
(3) WORK ORGANISATION ISSUES
“We’re too busy for lunch breaks”
The analysis of the observation and interviews uncovered several task, system and technology issues
The common issues identified which clearly affected operator task perform
CANT SEE
- Street cameras poorly sited – some facing roads/sky instead of bends and entrances of building
- Recorded images were poor – wasting police time - Quality of images compressed to much with low frame rates so that more video can be stored for a month at a time – operators found when preparing working copies of evidence for police that the clarity was so poor that in one tape ops couldn’t tell whether a suspect they were looking for was a man or a gorilla!
- Signal loss – microwave transmission/weather
PTZ controls didn’t work – created ‘embarrassment’ when sharing imagery with police
(2) TOO MUCH INFO
- Operators said that mgt were introducing too many cameras into the system
Cameras were funded through the presentation of crime statistics & the problem areas to the funding dept to justify the costs for new cameras.
However majority of the CCTV control rooms visited were not very large in size – many were either based in old war bunkers or town hall basements where natural light and spacing was extremely limited for additional cameras
In one control room the walls where CCTV cameras were mounted – monitors were added on to the ends – which meant that the operator’s angle of view was increased.
Cams also added on to the selection list on a PC – cams placed anywhere took longer to locate
Operators complained that they just couldn’t look at more than 5 camera screens in one row esp when they were seated very close to the camera walls.
- Lot of activity in c/rooms: Noise occurred through multiple conversations on radios, telephones, and between operators and supervisors.
- Door entry systems (audio alerts) also added additional backgd noise to the control room
Operators much preferred headsets – rather than hand held radios.
(3) WORK ORG ISSUES
Always having to cover for each other - breaks sometimes missed as operator cannot be left alone nor can the control room be left unmanned.
Operators felt tired after 12 hour shifts with no comfort breaks & felt this was something they had to get used to.
ALL 3 ISSUES can potentially increase operators workload affecting vigilance, awareness and task efficiency.
iea 2006 maastricht, The Netherlands: 10-14th July.

11. (4) Ineffective Search & Select Task
Majority of operators don’t live in surv. area
All control rooms visited – no maps linked to cams
Staff drew their own maps for newcomers
Need to memorise camera locations, numbers/screens
Paper maps can go astray and need updating
2. Map of Area i.e Camden
with Cameras No.
1. Cameras Database
Search for Camera/Street Location 1 2 4 3 5 7 6 11 10 12 8 13 9
Biggest problem that surprised me – selecting and searching cameras quickly!
LACK of area knowledge
iea 2006 maastricht, The Netherlands: 10-14th July.

12. Camera Number 10 – Gower Street
iea 2006 maastricht, The Netherlands: 10-14th July.

13. 8 Different pieces of equipment!!
(5) Bad Ergonomics
Operator complained that old equipment left lying about.
Work area cluttered
Controls to equipment were poorly located, preventing operator in using camera controls properly
Because the control rooms are rel small in size – and filled with large number of servers, camera monitors, PCs and other artefacts – spacing of equipment and air conditioning is crucial.
Legacy systems such as old VCRs and equipment that was purchased by control room mgt that was considered as useful were stored underneath operator desks.
Image on right shows one control room where there were over 9 different communication tools including door entry systems, shop and police radios, telephones. Operators said that they couldn’t tell which one was ringing and they felt like an octopus trying to manage these devices at one time.
Image on left shows an operator who is right handed the hand joystick used for controlling camera movements has very short cabling – which has meant that she needs to switch her hand movts to her left hand. When the control room is really busy she said that he stretched the cable so that the joystick is in the centre – in front of the keybd o she can use both the keyd and joystick with her right hand. Still was twisting and turning and had back problems – which mgt didn’t really take much notice of.
iea 2006 maastricht, The Netherlands: 10-14th July.

14. Field Work Conclusions
Technology changing – need for assessment
Lack of system and tool integration in CCTV control rooms
Design should focus on operator tasks not just technology
Workspace layout & expansion should consider impact on operator comfort, performance and health & safety.
Crucial existing technologies linked well - best support operator tasks
Problems with staff shortages should be resolved before more techn. Introduced into the system.
Simple solutions rather than costly solutions…
If only 1% of the hardware budget is spent on requirements analysis & designing for usability, you can probably get 2x as much performance out of the system.
iea 2006 maastricht, The Netherlands: 10-14th July.

15. Future Work
7 further ethnographic field studies carried out in control rooms in and out of London
Police control rooms also studied
Recommendations validated via reports to :
Metropolitan Police at Heathrow Command & Control Airport
1 London Borough Control Room (South London)
Since writing this paper – I have run observations at a further 7 control rooms
After sharing early findings with CCTV professionals – field work was taken to suburban areas and also within police CCTV control rooms.
Findings will be used to form usability framework for CCTV control rooms – where ergonomics and HCI factors are central to framework
iea 2006 maastricht, The Netherlands: 10-14th July.

16. References
Bentley, R., Hughes, L.A., Randall, D., Rodden, T., Sawyer, P., Shapiro, D and Sommerville, I. (1992). Ethnographically informed systems design for air traffic control, in: Proceedings of CSCW'92 Toronto, Ontario, ACM Press, pp
McCarthy, J., Wright P.C., Healey, P., Dearden, A and Harrison, M.D. (1997), Locating The Scene: The Particular and The General in Contexts for Ambulance Control, in: Proceedings of ACM97’ Phoenix, Arizona, ACM Pres, pp
Heath, C. C. and Luff, P.K. (1992), Collaboration and Control: Crisis management and multimedia technology in London Underground Line Control Rooms. Journal of Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Vol. 1, Nos pp
Gill, M., Allen, A., Jessiman, J., Swain, D.,Hemming, M., Kara, D and Little, R. (2005), Control room operation: findings from control room observations, Home Office report, No. 17.
Gill, M., Allen, A., Jessiman, J., Swain, D., Hemming, M., Kara, D and Little R. (2005), Methods in assessing the impact of CCTV, Home Office report, No 17.
iea 2006 maastricht, The Netherlands: 10-14th July.

17. Thank you for your attention.
Q & A…
Thank you for your attention.
Any questions ?
iea 2006 maastricht, The Netherlands: 10-14th July.