As part of my time back stage at T-in-the-Park (see earlier Blog post), I was also able to observe operations in the Joint Operations Control Centre by Tayside Police.  I’ve attended a number of festivals with complete ignorance as to the emergency services operations that take place in the background.  In the case of T-in-the-Park it really was a situation where big brother was watching you!

 IP Cameras and Bing Maps being used to monitor the festival site

The police were running a larger number of IP Cameras which meant they could monitor all areas, proactively looking for incidents or potential problems.  With the power of the technology they had at their disposal, they were able to zoom in on areas of concern and direct resources appropriately.  To support the IP cameras they were also using our Bing Maps with overlaid information to help the operators navigate the site and reference the different zones.

Two of the situations I observed during the weekend were:

  • A refrigerated van blocking the main walk through the main access route for the campers and delaying the opening of the event.  It’s amazing how persuasive two six foot motor cycle officers can be when the perpetrator is standing between 85,000 revellers and their music.
  • Two individuals, who had obviously misplaced their tickets for the event, decided to try and scale one of the outer fences.  Part of the solution to this was to have a dog team waiting on the other side to show them how to get back over the fence.

Congratulations should go to the team working on the event that kept all of the 200,000 visitors safe 24/7.

Posted by Dan