Does your Video Surveillance System really help catch anyone?
In today’s market for Video Surveillance Systems, business owners have many options. Most systems record video on Digital Video Recorders (DVR), Network Video Recorders (NVR) or on the Cloud. The main focus in recent years has been on image resolution. The shift from Analog Video to IP Video has seen image quality increase and pricing decrease. In many cases, increased resolution and motion detected recording is all a business really needs. Or is it?
The real questions are simple. Do you need to record events with great resolution for identification purposes or do you need to detect unwanted events and have the police dispatched? Do you want to have a chance at catching the criminals in the act?
Many business owners say both. The good news is you can have your cake and eat it too. New systems are available that allow you to have detection analytics on high resolution IP cameras and lower resolution cameras like Thermal Cameras.
The video below is of an actual video detected event using an Avigilon System with Analytics. The camera looking at the lot containing the cars are thermal cameras. Notice how big the field of view is. Why thermal? They are used because the importance of image resolution is of no value and they are very effective in detecting and displaying the heat signature of the moving target. In large outdoor situations where the presence of a person or vehicle indicates a potential crime, one camera can protect the entire area. This system lets you set the software to detect a human, car or boat. The only time it records and sends a notification is when it detects the preset target. It turns a Video Camera System into a Detection System that focuses on catching criminals in the act. The notification is sent to the property owner. Once the owner determines if it is a crime in progress, they call 911 and notify the dispatcher of the situation at their business.
No sirens sound and no lights flash. The criminals are unaware they have been detected. The police departments usually respond to Video Verified Alarm Signals very differently. In fact, most give these the highest response priority. They agree that the purpose of any police response is to make arrests and to get criminals off the street.
Video Verified Alarms & Priority Response
The Law Enforcement Community is taking notice. The video below is a clip from the International Security Conference – ISC West April 2015 – Law Enforcement Panel discussion on Video Verified Alarms and Priority Response.