In Australia, the safety and security of retail centre tenants, workers, customers and visitors came to the fore following the onset of self-harm incidents in shopping centres during the pandemic. In response to this issue and specific self-harm incident that occurred at one of its centres in 2021, the Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) spearheaded a new safety program called Project Safe-Guard, designed specifically to reduce the likelihood of self-harm and security breach incidents at QIC’s shopping centres.
Established in 1991 by the Queensland Government to serve its long-term investment responsibilities. QIC has grown into a leading specialist investment manager who delivers alternative real asset solutions across infrastructure, real estate, private debt, private capital and more. Today, QIC manages 24 shopping centres totalling close to 1.3 million square metres in gross lettable area (GLA) across Australia.
“This was an opportunity to look at and assess a shopping centre for different types of risk, and I included other things beyond self-harm. We looked at misuse of places like car parks, and people entering high-risk areas, and vulnerable areas. At some centres, there are open mall-style entrances that are unable to be closed after trade,” said Deb Palmer, National Programs Manager and Project Safe-Guard Project Lead, QIC.
The pilot site for the programme was the Robina Town Centre on the Gold Coast in Queensland. Being a large centre comprising five multi-level car parks and more than 350 stores, the complex has large areas which require monitoring by network cameras and the 24/7 security control room at the site, with additional support by security guard foot and vehicle patrols.
QIC, PMT Security, Axis Communications and video management system provider Milestone Systems collaborated to develop a solution designed to identify high-risk areas within the shopping centre, guided by historical incident reports and a self-harm audit tool designed in partnership with Lifeline.
Utilising Axis products such as the D2110-VE Security Radar, which has a 60-metre range with a 180-degree field of view, and the Axis Q6135-LE PTZ Network Camera for visual identification of incidents, QIC was able to minimise the technology footprint requirement while realising operational goals.
“We already had existing, fairly new Axis PTZ cameras with pan, tilt and zoom capabilities for wide-area coverage in Robina Town Centre’s car parks. With this solution, we continued using those PTZ cameras but added some Axis Security Radars to the mix to deliver more of the full benefits from the existing camera fleet. Many cameras stayed put or moved position for better analytics outcomes. However, if a camera was out of date or couldn’t handle the analytics we needed from it, it was replaced and repurposed.
“We are only using the analytics technology in areas of high risk. The rest of the cameras are still being used in the same ways they were previously.”
Since the implementation of the Axis camera and sensor system at the pilot Project Safe-Guard centre, security personnel have been alerted to and have been able to prevent at least two potentially fatal self-harm incidents.
More broadly, the pilot centre has seen a significant reduction in various incidents going undetected, with security teams now able to respond proactively to security breaches in high-risk areas as they happen, helping to prevent the occurrence of facility misuse, including illegal access, loitering and bad behaviour.
Additionally, the new technology has helped Robina Town Centre secure the open-air mall area that was previously difficult to secure after hours. Thanks to the highly accurate virtual tripwire capability of the Axis network camera fleet providing coverage of the mall, security personnel now have a greater ability to actively monitor the area and prevent its potential misuse by unauthorised visitors after trading hours.
“I have gone into a control room after recent alerts have stopped a potential self-harm incident, and the positive responses from the security team is incredible. They can’t believe it has worked, and it’s worked several times. The emotional stress of having to deal with something post-incident can be big,”
Similar systems have now been rolled out in other QIC shopping centres, including Grand Central in Toowoomba, Queensland, and Canberra Centre, with another five across Australia in progress.
“At Robina, we have built a town centre for the community to come to for more than just shopping, and in doing that, we want it to be a safe place. This is all about safety, even out of hours. At Grand Central, we’ve already stopped two potential self-harm incidents, along with multiple security breaches and misuse.”
