CAM-114
The control post with nobody at it
An internal control post in mid-afternoon. On the counter, two monitors each split into four camera feeds, the intercom console, the radios in their charger, a logbook with a pen on it and a set of keys. Through the long window you can see the cell landing and the stairs at the far end. On the right-hand wall, the numbered key cabinet and the door-release panel. The chair is turned away and empty: there is nobody in front of the screens.
Turn on IRIS Vision
AI-generated image
What IRIS understands
What it recognises in this scene
- post uncovered
- the post's monitors
- landing through the window
- radios in the charger
- key cabinet
- door-release panel
The rule
You decide once. IRIS applies it always.
If
there is nobody at the control post for longer than the facility has set
Then
- alert the duty governor with the camera, the post and the time
- keep watching the wing's cameras and report anything that happens while the post is still uncovered
- log how long the post was left uncovered
The instruction that set it up«Tell me if the control post is left with nobody at it for longer than we have set, and tell me which camera and what time.»
What changes
What changes for whoever answers for the facility
An empty control post is the blind spot nobody puts in a brochure. It is not a reproach to the officer: nobody sustains attention across hundreds of screens for a whole shift, it is a human limit and it has been studied for decades. And you also have to leave the post: open a door, escort somebody, answer a call. Meanwhile the screens stay on and nobody is watching them. What IRIS does is watch when nobody is watching. It does not replace the person at the post: it tells them what happened while they were away and on which camera, and leaves the video open at the minute that matters. The facility decides how long a post may be left uncovered and who gets told; IRIS only says when that point has been passed.
What people usually ask
Does IRIS recognise the officer on duty?
No. IRIS does not identify anyone: it does not recognise faces, it does not compare them against any database and it does not store who anyone is. What it sees is whether there is a person at the post or there is not. It does not know who was sitting there, how long they have been on shift, or whether it is the same person as yesterday. It detects situations; who works when is the facility's business, not a camera's.
Is this a way of monitoring staff?
No, and it is worth saying plainly. The rule does not look at a person: it looks at a post, and says whether it is covered or has been uncovered for longer than the facility decided. The alert is not there to point at whoever got up — stepping out to open a door or escort somebody is part of the job — it is there so the duty governor knows that wing has had nobody watching it for a while, and so that whatever happens meanwhile is not lost. If the facility prefers the alert to go only to a supervisor and not into any individual record, it is set up that way.
What if the facility wants the post to be allowed to stand empty for a while?
Then it is written that way. The rule is written by the facility, not by IRIS: the time allowance, the hours it applies and which posts are included are decisions for whoever runs the service. You can ask for a shorter allowance at night, for it to say nothing during shift handover, or for it to apply only to posts that release doors. IRIS neither proposes the number nor has an opinion about it: it applies the one it is given and reports when it is passed.
Simulation · how IRIS works
You set the rule once. IRIS applies it every time.
You will see a summary of the interface, played step by step and hands-free. Each round starts with another case. The complete tool does not fit in a demo.
- It lands in the tray
- You open it
- You confirm or dismiss
Next step
How long before somebody comes down that corridor at four in the morning?
13 cases: 12 raise an alert when something happens and 1 only measure. You see each image as it is, and then with what IRIS understands on top.
Who sees the child who has fallen at the far end of the playground?
13 cases: 12 raise an alert when something happens and 1 only measure. You see each image as it is, and then with what IRIS understands on top.
And the best part
“The white van, Tuesday afternoon.”That is enough to find it.
You type it the way you would tell a colleague, and the matching minutes come back, each with its camera and its time. You do not need to remember the exact moment.
Tell us your problem and we will say whether IRIS understands it, or not yet.
We reply the same working day.