The council of Amsterdam gave the company from the city of Groningen, Sound Intelligence, permission to place the system with the aggression detector at the ‘Buikslotermeerplein’.

By Mick van Wely, 9th of May 2008

The sensors, which detect aggression and pass it to the police, have to protect bus-drivers.

The permission is a new success for the company that gathered interest from country councils all over the world. Bus-drivers have to deal with aggression and violence on occasion at the Buikslotermeerplein. The violence comes from hanging youth in that district. Major of the city of Amsterdam, Job Cohen, decided to change the situation after a number of reported conflicts. Sound Intelligence is very content with the order placed by the council of Amsterdam.

The aggression detector of Sound Intelligence detects the sound of aggression and violence from the streets. It distinguishes between the sound of aggression and other noise. The system is linked to cameras and to the security center from the police as well. When the system detects aggression, the signal is sent to the police. The police can then alarm officers on the streets. A quick operation can prevent a big fight or other forms a violence. Because of the system, security workers do not have to look at the displays in the security center continuously.

It’s the first time an aggression detection project is used to guard the public security in the city of Amsterdam. Cohen says to be really curious about the results of the project, which ends at the 31^st of December 2010.

The center of the city of Groningen is protected by system for three years already. The city council and the police are content about the system. The evaluation of the system pointed this out. The experiment found two problem, one of them: a good integration of the system in the security center, is fixed already. 

Source: Dagblad van het Noorden, 9th of May 2008