Does Your Security System Actually Catch Intruders?
With technology constantly improving, do you feel you are changing anything to better protect your property, business, or most cherished assets? One of the first technology solutions was the burglar alarm system and then came along CCTV to allow for the recording of video data. Connecting CCTV to the internet has opened up numerous valuable capabilities but what are you doing to take advantage of it. Traditionally, video analytics and intrusion detection track the amount of pixel changes on a camera to detect motion. By changing parameters and masking continuously moving motion, the control center can vary the amount of alarm triggers. The next generation of video monitoring centers have been able to integrate this technology with live trained operators to effectively evaluate every motion event and separate positive motion from false motion to determine whether to dispatch police or move on to the next motion event. Police raise the priority of their response if an operator calls in the fact that intrusion is being watched live as opposed to a system generated dispatch.
For example, a Texas based Fortune 500 company recently installed four cameras and contracted with an outsourced control center to live video monitor the cameras at night when the facility was closed. Within the first week, an employee was caught stealing gas and two intruders were sent to jail after trespassing at 2:30am with empty eighteen wheelers ready to be loaded up. Government facilities are now using surveillance centers to remotely activated speakers, turn on lights, open and close gates and move PTZ cameras around a facility to monitor loitering and illegal activities and even monitor the parking lots. Industrial properties with surveillance systems are drastically improving productivity and operational efficiencies by allowing management to oversee employee activity and production lines across numerous facilities all from one office. These are just a few examples of the success stories within the industry but you could ask a monitoring control center who manages hundreds/thousands of client’s surveillance systems remotely to see how they have benefited someone’s life today by using the latest live monitoring capabilities.
Many companies have invested in existing surveillance systems that are just recording to a DVR for after the fact evidence. These investments indicate that losses and problems have occurred but what if there is technology to help these investments can create more value. Companies using live video monitoring services are having trouble imagining life without the customized service. The value is easily measurable to them and the solution of proactively watching security cameras seems so obvious. For example, a client spends $4,000/month (50 hours/week) to $8,000/month (108 hours/week) for a patrol officer to roam around the lot after working hours. Live video monitoring centers can watch all the surveillance cameras around the facility for 12 hours a night or whenever the lot is closed for a fraction of the cost. Reducing the amount of patrol service hours to only peak hours between 11pm and 2am, or eliminating the service completely, will save considerable dollars. Keep in mind that the DVR can be connected to open and close motorized gates, activate audio speakers, and lights to provide the physical presence feeling and to offer guard services such as authorizing late night tow trucks to deliver vehicles after hours in secured areas. Anyone can explain that the security budget can be reduced on a monthly basis and have better protection by having every camera on the property both inside and perimeter being live video monitored whenever the facility is closed. The live video monitoring center is not waiting for any alarms or beams to be triggered but proactively watching surveillance cameras.
When there is motion detected using video analytics that is not related to a person or car moving, the operator can move on and look at the next video clip. So if 1,000 cameras are being live video monitored and about 20 percent of them have motion detected at the same time, and out of those 20 percent, about 90 percent are not a person or car, you are left with about 20 to 30 cameras per trained operator. When there is unwanted activity, the live trained person with the help of video analytics, can instantly watch each camera on the larger monitoring screens to stream live continuous and historical footage to further investigate. The larger screens can be already streaming live continuous video footage of high crime or high activity cameras while the live motion driven pop-ups are viewed on smaller screens. The advanced live monitoring centers also have the ability to instantly call up every camera location on a facility map, protocol of customized instructions, contact information such as who to call, reporting forms with analytics, compatible access control software, and more. Only unusual video clips are sent to a client when an event occurs that needs to be reported.
The next generation of live video monitoring centers will have all the abilities described above and will continue to reduce crime and save money by using advanced video management software and controlled human intervention. By applying the latest cost effective technology and services, any end user will be able to customize their protocol and get more value out of their surveillance system.
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