Securitas and Securiton protect the BärenPark

There certainly hasn’t been a dull moment at Bern’s new BärenPark since it re-opened. First of all, in late November 2009, someone somehow got into the bear enclosure and only just managed to get out alive. Then, at the start of year, there was the happy news of new-born cubs for parents Finn and Björk. All of which is captured live on the Securiton video surveillance system. Securitas employees are also there to help convey a sense of security to all visitors and to make sure they follow the Bärenpark’s rules and regulations.

For 150 years Bern’s famous bears had to put up with a cramped bear pit that was anything but animal friendly. But in October 2009 the animals that feature so prominently on Bern’s coat of arms were re-housed in the more spacious BärenPark. The two adult bears, Björk and Finn, settled in well to their new home and then made national and international headlines. On 21 November 2009 for example a confused man jumped into Finn’s enclosure, who naturally sought to defend his patch and badly injured the man. The Securitas employee on duty saw the incident and immediately alerted the police and the ambulance services. There was happier news at the end of February 2010 with new offspring for the BärenPark’s resident couple. Björk, the female, had already given birth to two cubs, Urs and Berna, in December 2009.
The Securitas Group enjoys close ties both with the City of Bern and the new BärenPark, as its financial contribution has demonstrated. The company also commissioned Securiton to carry out what was a sizeable donation for the new nature reserve: i.e. the installation of webcams so people could follow the building progress online at any time. In a second phase several static and remote controlled cameras were installed after the park was completed.

Video surveillance and surveillance services
The video surveillance system consists of 18 cameras. More cameras than originally planned were also installed in the area of the so-called “sliders”. This allows the bear keeper to view the immediate area around these metal sliding gates before opening or closing them to make sure no bears are present. This is particularly important for the bears, too, as the heavy automatic gates could easily injure one of the animals. Other cameras are pointed at various areas of the enclosure so the keepers always know where the bears are and what’s happening. Particularly in the case of the mentally confused man who jumped into the inner area of the park in November 2009, these cameras played a crucial role in establishing what happened. The police were able to analyse the images and reconstruct the incident. The security measures in place in the zone in question were subsequently tightened as a result.
The Securiton cameras also played an important role in the birth of Berna and Urs. Mother Björk had crawled deep inside her cave to protect her offspring from watchful eyes, so the dome cameras installed inside the caves captured all the action. During the day these cameras are set to normal colour mode as there is plenty of daylight penetrating the caves. At night the cameras provided black-and-white images, with an infrared spotlight as the lighting source. So all the bear family’s antics are recorded on video; this is a valuable aid for the managers of the BärenPark when looking after the bears and also a mainstay of the security concept. When it comes to security services the Securitas employees also have an important task to fulfil: conveying a subjective sense of security to all visitors. During the day the Securitas staff assist the bear keepers and ensure that all the rules and regulations of the BärenPark are observed. At night security is again the main concern of the surveillance specialists as they do their many rounds, along with preventing any vandalism and damage to property.