Collaboration is key for construction site arrest in London

By Farsight Security
06 Aug 2015 4 min read

Collaboration can be vital for optimised security – whether that’s between security services and the emergency services or between clients and installers.

In this incident, in the centre of London, collaboration between Farsight Security Services, Permanex CCS Group and the police was essential to protect a valuable site from theft and criminal damage. If it hadn’t been for the swift reactions of Farsight, the clever installation completed by Permanex or coordination with the police, the intruder could have got away with a hefty haul.

The incident

In the centre of London, a stone’s throw away from the O2 arena, a lone intruder broke into a construction site – home to expensive materials and machinery. As a result, an integrated and intelligent security system was a necessity.

Permanex had the foresight to install a sophisticated security system consisting of CCTV cameras and intruder alarms. The CCTV cameras installed capture:

  • an image moments before an alarm is raised
  • another image during the alarm
  • a third immediately afterwards.

The intruder alarm would monitor whether unauthorised access to the site’s building had occurred.

The intelligent CCTV cameras were crucial in this incident. When Farsight operators received an alarm from the site at 19:50 on Monday 27 July 2015, the intruder was nowhere to be seen on live cameras. However, swiftly inspecting the three still images captured pre, during and post alarm, Farsight operators identified an individual on site.

The operator immediately issued an audio warning, requesting that the intruder leaves the site immediately. Simon, from Permanex, said: “The pre, during and post alarm images were so important because the intruder climbed over perimeter fencing to access the site. As a result, it was impossible to see any damage to perimeters when viewing live CCTV footage, it was only the still images that revealed the presence of an intruder.”

Despite the audio warning issued by Farsight, shortly afterwards the operators received an alarm from within the building – the intruder alarm had been triggered and the individual had gained access to a vital part of the site.

The Farsight operators didn’t hesitate to call the police immediately – they could visually verify the presence of an intruder on site with the knowledge that they had accessed a secure area.

The result

Because Farsight monitored both CCTV and intruder alarm systems at the site, their visual verification and confirmation of a burglary meant police prioritized the incident.

As a result, police were on site and had arrested the lone intruder within 12 minutes of Farsight receiving the first alarm.

Simon at Permanex explained that the intruder had been carrying his loot to and from the site, as he watched in real time. Simon said: “It looked like the intruder was helping themselves to metal at the site but we were able to see that it was a lone intruder. Had there been a group of them then he wouldn’t have been carrying the stolen goods to and from the site – he would have had some help.

“We were able to notify the police that they were only looking for one individual, stopping them from releasing the dog patrol to search for further intruders.”

Timing was critical in this incident, had the police arrived any later the results could have been much, much worse as Simon explained: “A lot of it was down to the speed of response from Farsight. Had they not responded so quickly, the individual could have got away with his haul. He’d got his, as it were, and it was clear he was planning to exit the site for good when the police arrived.

“Instead of getting away with it, all of the goods were recovered, no damage was caused and the individual was arrested.”

Take action

The clever installation by Permanex and remote monitoring expertise of Farsight went hand-in-hand at this incident. As a result, it’s ever more important that installation and monitoring services work together to provide the very best security for the client. As this other incident in May 2015 also goes to show: Wise installation and remote monitoring lead to an arrest

For more tips and advice on construction site security read about this construction site arrest in June 2015.


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