Police force seeks supplier to maintain existing cameras and develop new CCTV and ANPR services
Credit: PA
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) is planning to redevelop its network of surveillance cameras, as part of its efforts to consolidate their management through a single supplier.
The Greater Manchester Combined Authority has published a tender worth up to £10m for a fully-managed CCTV and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) service to support policing in the region. “The key elements of the current CCTV and ANPR infrastructure are ageing and a number of elements are out of support,” it says, with support contracts with a number of suppliers ending in 2021.
GMP was an early adopter of ANPR cameras, installing a ‘ring of steel’ network that covered all routes into the city centre in 2010, making it the first UK city after London to do so. The system, supplied by NDI Recognition Systems and communications provider Metronet, was later expanded to cover Manchester airport.
GMP’s new supplier will be responsible for maintaining and supporting existing cameras and will also act as the technical design authority for “a new, fit for purpose CCTV and ANPR service to meet the current and future operational needs of GMP”. The contract will last for five years, with the option of up to three one-year extensions.
The area’s revamped ANPR system will have to integrate with the Home Office’s incoming National ANPR Service, announced in May 2018 to replace the National ANPR Data Centre. “It will further integrate ANPR analytic and real-time monitoring functions into the single national service,” according to the procurement notice.
