Scyron wins Security Oscar for “IT Initiative of the Year”
Monday 20 October 2008
Award recognises ground-breaking technology that is transforming the way Police services and manage digital evidence
Scyron, the security and surveillance services company, has been presented with the award for “IT initiative of the Year” at the prestigious Security Excellence Awards 2008. The award was given to the company for its DEMON Manager software which is transforming the way police and security services manage large amounts of digital intelligence and evidence such as video, still images, documents, audio, email, etc.
The Security Excellence Awards 2008, which this year marked its 10th anniversary, held its awards ceremony at the Hilton Hotel, Park Lane on 9th October, 2008. The awards, known as the ‘Security Oscars’, were presented by comedian Marcus Brigstocke (pictured left). Pictured holding the award is Mike Wilks, CEO of Scyron. On the right are category sponsors Johnathan Collins, publisher of the protection management portfolio at United Business Media and Anthony Hildebrand, the editor of Infor4Security (far right).
The “IT initiative of the Year” category is awarded to the individual or organisation that has made the most positive use of IT in the security sector. One of the panel judges said, “The DEMON Suite is a classic example of IT being used to make a genuine difference in terms of police efficiency.”
“We are delighted with the award which is the culmination of four-years of product development, working hand in glove with operational police officers,” said Wilks. “It recognises the enormous contribution our technology is making to transform the way police officers manage digital evidence and secure convictions.”
DEMON Manager allows officers to simultaneously review and edit video and digital intelligence effectively while providing a complete audit trail to maintain evidential integrity. It was piloted during Operation Siluga, the West Midlands Police investigation into the Aston riots. The case involved 271 crimes, 2 murders and more than 5,000 hours of CCTV footage. Using the complete DEMON digital evidence management suite, officers were able to quickly extract, analyse, manage and present highly complex evidence, saving time and money. The whole system more than paid for itself in savings of police time and helped secure nine convictions.
The Security Excellence Awards 2008 were sponsored by the British Security Industry Association; the Security Industry Authority; Skills for Security; Dedicated Micros; Northern Monitoring Services; Southern Monitoring Services; the Fire and Security Association, Showsec; Panasonic; Over-C: and Prima Corporate Wear.
Notes To Editors
About DEMON Manager
DEMON Manager allows officers to simultaneously review and edit video effectively while providing a complete audit trail to maintain evidential integrity. For example, it allows multiple officers to simultaneously review a single piece of video evidence, enabling them to make notes and tag scenes without duplicating evidence. This aids collaboration, particularly during major investigations, saving time, money and police resources. Also, it reduces greatly the possibility of important evidence being overlooked. DEMON Manager is the core of the DEMON digital evidence management suite. The latter comprises various software modules, ranging from easy to use software that uses an intelligent algorithm to automatically search video footage for specific incidents, to powerful software for presenting digital evidence in court.
Talking about how Scyron’s DEMON technology aided Operation Siluga, Superintendent Una Cooke, head of the Major Investigations Unit at West Midlands Police said, “Without this technology it was felt that the case would have lasted at least another three weeks and, also, that it would have been extremely difficult for the jury to be able to follow the evidence against the individual defendants.”
Police forces currently using DEMON Manager include: Derbyshire; Greater Manchester Police; Northumbria; Warwickshire; West Mercia; and West Midlands Police which helped in its development.
