Lungar Gupp VII

Hi Folks,
The following gems were gathered at the 4th Security Managers Conference which was held on 26 Dec 2005 at Mumbai :

1. Security Officers are likely to be recruited from CISF as the Bank could not find candidates from SC and ST categories to fill up the backlog. Only 8 general side and 3 OBC candidates are likely to join as a result of the recently concluded interviews. A total of 33 vacancies in the cadre exist at present.
2. At one of the Centres an interviewee was shown around the entire premises by one of our friends (security area included) and the candidate was very smart in letting out this information to the interview board. This disturbed the Board to no end (and rightly so). We should refrain from overdoing such things. This is height of hospitality I must say.

3. Our friend Murugan is going to Patna at long last.

Security Managers' Conference - 26 Dec 2005

The 4th Security Managers' Conference was held at Mumbai on 26 Dec 2005. The conference will be remembered by me for a long time to come not because of the content thereof but because of the harrowing time I had at the airport - thanks to Incredible India's flagbearer "Indian" (the recently renamed Indian Airlines). Old wine in new bottle guys - changing the name or the logo will obviously not improve the sorry state of affairs at IA. Myself and Maj Rajeev were sweating on the ride to the airport whether we would make it on time or not. We need'nt have. The flight scheduled to take off at 8.30 PM ultimately took off at 1.00 AM and I reached home at the ungodly hour of 3.00 AM on 27 th Dec.

Anyway, the conference was basically a repetition of those held in earlier years. The same hackeneyed points were thrashed and flogged to death yet again. The powers that be seemed open to suggestions as far as Premises Dept was concerned. How it translates into action at ground level remains to be seen. CGM, HRDD gave a lot of "gyan" aimed at reviving the spirits of 'old and weary' and some motivational inputs for the youngsters to boot. He said that there was no embargo on foriegn training for Security Officers (much to the relief of everyone present).

During the first half of the session when an in-house discussion sans the HODs was conducted, I was surprised that some our colleagues were still in the "I, Me, Myself" mode. Some also resorted to the old rhetoric "I started so and so practice over there". Grow up guys !!! We all know "kaun kitne pani mein hai" since our "janampatris" have been so well advertised.

Overall the administrative arrangements were good (good lunch, tea and snacks), the parting gift (a sturdy strolley bag) excellent and the actual content a "damp squib". Some of the points for discussion were conveniently omitted by the CSC (I wonder why ??)

Finally, a word about our colleagues at Mumbai office. Thanks a lot guys - for going out of your way to make our stay at Mumbai comfortable. My friends Toms and Moudgil even found time to come over to the Grand Hotel and look us up. That was great and made our trip to Mumbai worthwhile !! Keep up the good work.

SEASONS GREETINGS

"I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old, familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet

The words repeat

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Belated greetings for Christmas to all. Since I left Bangalore on 25th Dec to attend the Security Managers' Conference at Mumbai this could not be posted earlier. Here's wishing everyone a happy, prosperous and peaceful 2006.

Video Surveillance

(Courtesy CSO Magazine – Sep 2005)
Camera Speed Counts
How many frames per second do you need for your surveillance project? It depends. Thirty frames per second, used by televisions in the U.S., is the gold standard, but it’s often unnecessary, says Aaron Chesler, NiceVision’s director of sales for the Eastern region. But video quality with 15 fps is usually good enough he says. With 15 fps, you also use only half as much bandwidth and disk space (measured below in units).
Some typical frame rates:

Speed: 3.75 fps
Video quality: Jumpy
Uses: Commercial buildings, branch banks, ATMs
Storage required: 1 unit
Speed: 15 fps
Video quality: fairly smooth
Uses: Most applications (for example, train stations, airports, trading floors, call centers)
Storage required: 4 units
Speed: 24 fps
Video quality: smooth to the human eye, real-time
Uses: U.S. movies
Storage required: 6 units
Speed: 30 fps
Video quality: real-time
Uses: U.S. televisions, casino gaming floors, high-security government areas, military
Storage required: 8 units
This article is a part of the Surveillance Field Guide story titled "Hidden Camera"

Delhi Metro - My First Ride

When I was in Delhi last week attending the International Seminar on Total Loss Prevention at Hotel Le Meridien our friends at RBI, Delhi advised me to take a trip on the newly commissioned Delhi Metro Rail Service. So I took time off during lunch hours one day to get a feel of the same. Three other colleagues from the Bank were also with me on this occasion. We walked across to the Patel Chowk station and bought tickets for Chawri Bazaar (though we wanted to go to Chandni Chowk). The tickets are in the form of round plastic tokens which have an addressable microchip embedded within. The frequency of the trains is 4-5 minutes so one does not have to wait for long periods at the station. We boarded our train and reached Chawri Bazaar in 7-8 minutes even though the train stopped for a minute each at intermediate stations of Rajiv Chowk and New Delhi Railway Station. On getting down at Chawri Bazaar we went to the exit point which was manned by a sentry and told him that our station was one stop further. He guided us to the adjacent ticket counter where we tendered our tokens and the difference in fare amounting to one rupee each and our tokens were refreshed with the fresh data. Thereafter we caught another train and reached Old Delhi Railway Station in a couple of minutes or so. We got out towards Chandni Chowk and purchased sweets at the famous "Ghantewala" sweet shop and returned to Patel Chowk which is a short walk away from Hotel Le Meridien. At the destination we had to put our tokens in the slot built into the turnstile which lifts the barrier allowing one to walk through. The whole round trip including the shopping did not even last an hour. Kudos to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation for making a world class rapid mass transport system possible well within the target date. Earlier the idea of visiting old Delhi was out of question unless one was prepared to sweat it out for 3-4 hours. The entire system is comparable with the London tube railway as well as the New York subway. In fact I liked it better than both of them in terms of cleanliness and efficiency. India is really shining Guys !!!

International Seminar - IISSM

Hi Friends,

I had the privelege of attending the XVth International Seminar on Total Loss Prevention Programme conducted by the International Institute of Security and Safety Management at Hotel Le Meridien from 6th to 9th December 2005. Sadly the RBI representation was miniscule as compared to other organisations. Only three other officers besides me attended the programme. This seminar was atended by 91 participants besides faculty and other officials. This was an excellent opportunity to interact with security service providers, equipment manufacturers and security practitioners from various organisations as also to learn something new about Security Management. The programme was conducted professionally and was well taken by all the participants.