(37) in G/TA/PWD/4
Mr. W. Nichol,
Director of Telecommunications, Home Office,
60, Rochester Row,
London SW2,
U.K.
Dear Mr. Nichol,
21st November, 1973.
CCTV Traffic Surveillance
I understand that you visited Hong Kong fairly recently so you probably know that work is in hand to provide a computer-controlled traffic- light scheme for the West Kowloon area. As an extension of this project, the Royal Hong Kong Police have suggested that a CCTV surveillance scheme should be provided which would serve the controlled traffic area and its adjacent major roads.
This Department is responsible for advising Government on all "electronic" equipment including telecommunications facilities but for this particular requirement we lack practical experience hence this demi-official letter.
The scheme is envisaged as having about 20 cameras located at strategic road junctions with feeds (as video frequency) back to monitors at the proposed new Kowloon District Police Headquarters. This will be located about 11⁄2 Km from the nearest junction to be surveyed and the remainder could be up to 2 Km further away. It is intended to have remote control of pan, tilt and zoom of each camera. To accommodate the required coaxial/control cables a separate duct is being provided parallel to the ducts to be installed for the computer control cables (throughout, the cables have to be entirely independent of the normal telephone network of the Hong Kong Telephone Co. Ltd.).
It has been suggested by the Police and the Traffic Engineer involved that you could possibly help us from your experience of such schemes in London and elswwhere. In the first instance we should be grateful for any "write-ups" on existing schemes but it was felt that the scheme is sufficiently large and novel (to us) to justify the expense of an expert with practical installation experience to come out here for a short period. Could you possibly make such a person available and if so, could you please give me an idea of the costs we should need to hear? Also perhaps there is an official channel I should use.
We seek guidance on the camera and control gear specifications, the actual choice of sites and mounting positions, the problems to be overcome in getting the picture information to the monitors and the layout of the monitors and any 'poling' equipment needed in order to ensure that incidents causing major traffic hold-ups are spotted immediately for Police action to be taken. The computer itself is to be located at an entirely different building some 2 Km. from the Police H.Q.'s mentioned above and provision is being made for the computer to pass certain information to the Police this would be confined, in general, to alarm indications showing any failure of traffic lights or their controls and to information, gleaned from detector-loops, of slow-moving or stationery traffic conditions.
C.C.
Commissioner of Police
(3 copies for C & T, R. & P, Tfc.)
Officer in Charge,
Area Traffic Control Scheme, W. Kowloon.
Sgd.
Yours sincerely,
(R.E. Hunt)
for Postmaster General.
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