Award for device that cut bike theft by 90 per cent
A lock that uses CCTV to prevent bicycle theft has won a top Home Office award.
The lock was the brainchild of a University of Portsmouth police officer who was fed up with the amount of bike theft on the campus.
Now the Wasp (Wireless Asset Security Protection) device has won a Home Office Innovation Award in the equipment and technology category.
Inventor, PC Dave Fairbrother and manufacturer, Len Weaver, MD of SOS Response, collected the award at the annual exhibition of the Home Office Scientific Development Branch held in Buckinghamshire.
The lock and associated CCTV technology has been “hugely successful” in cutting bike thefts in King Henry I Street in Portsmouth, says the university, with reductions of more than 90 per cent.
Now it will be extended to cover another 100 bicycles on a different part of the campus.
When the owner locks their bicycle they send a text to a security officer to trigger the guarding system. If someone then tampers with the bike a motion detector in the lock emits a silent alarm which triggers a CCTV camera to record. The sensor also sends an alarm to security staff and flashes live images to their monitor from where a guard can be despatched.
Under the scheme, staff and students get free D-locks but have to pay to send text to say they have left/collected their bikes. Each lock holder’s photo flashes up on the guard’s screen when their bike is moved. If the rightful owner takes the bike without texting, then the guard can verify it is being moved by the right person.
The idea was the brainchild of PC Fairbrother who took it to Winchester-based SoS Response for 18 months of development and testing.
It could potentially be installed in town centres, railway stations and other campuses, said the university’s head of campus environment, Tony Davis, who added: “We are delighted to have won this award “.