To the average person on the street, those ubiquitous Brink’s armored trucks seen in financial sectors of cities all over the world represent the total service that the company has to offer. However, much of what Brink’s provides-air courier, currency, coin wrapping, ATM services and more-is not as obvious as the trucks but just as important to its international business clientele. Brink’s Incorporated is the oldest and largest security transportation company in the world with 160 branch operations in the U.S., 40 in Canada and affiliates in 50 countries. The reputation that Brink’s has built over the years has enabled the company to become one of the world’s leading commercial deposit processing centers for banks, stock exchanges and other financial institutions. This reputation is based on the company’s ability to protect the assets of their clients through the use the most up-to-date security methods and technologies available. Today, the high liability areas at Brink’s—where the actual counting and processing takes place—are closely supervised and under constant video surveillance via multiple video cameras, VCRs and multiplexers. Even so, Brink’s is always looking for ways to improve security and to verify the accuracy of the deposits entrusted to them.

Continuous Recording

A state-of-the-art digital recording system is presently in use at the huge Brink’s commercial deposit processing facility in Chicago. At the heart of this system are two Dallmeier DLS-18 digital recorders that provide Brink’s with the high-quality 24/7 video surveillance they require. ELMO Manufacturing, Plainview, N.Y., is the exclusive U.S. distributor of the Dallmeier DSL-18 digital recorder. According to Ken Dykstra, Brink’s currency manager, “the DLS-18 gives us the continuous coverage we need. This is very important for high liability areas such as ours. If a shortage occurs, the digital video system allows us to thoroughly review the actions of our tellers step by step. Its capability of recording two frames per second allows us to verify that our tellers have adhered to all policies and procedures while processing deposits. This type of coverage was not possible with the analog system we previously used.”

Brink’s utilizes a dual control system under camera according to Dykstra. Any time a teller is out of balance during a count, the software stops the count from proceeding. A supervisor-who must use a different ID and password to access the program-must then recount and verify the total. The digital recorder precisely documents all of the actions taken by the teller and the supervisor, providing Brink’s with an undeniable, step-by-step account of the events that transpired.

90 Days of Storage

Bob Litterio of Financial Applications, the firm that installed the system at the Brink’s facility, explains that “storage capacity is a critical factor when choosing a recording system...especially with a company such as Brink’s, which required 90 days of storage time.” Brink’s tried another digital recorder before the DLS-18, but according to Dykstra, “It didn’t have enough storage capacity.” The DLS-18 recorder has an 80-gigabyte hard drive that’s expandable to 320 gigabytes. To guarantee that they have enough storage space to handle any and all situations, Brink’s it backs up with a Raid system of 6 additional hard drives. A motion detector that activates recording only when motion is detected efficiently utilizes storage space and saves Brink’s hours of playback time as well.

As far as cost is concerned, Litterio explains that the DLS-18 digital recorder replaces multiple time-lapse recorders, multiplexers, POTS or ISDN remote video surveillance equipment, matrix camera controls and, depending on the system, a variety of other components, wires and cables. “Everything is in one neat box. In fact, it outperforms all of this equipment and reduces the cost and amount of labor needed for installation and maintenance.” The DLS-18 can control as many as 18 cameras, two more than basic multiplexers. This works well for the Brink’s facility where over 30 cameras and two ELMO recorders are presently in use. “We get more coverage with less equipment,” explains Dykstra.

Litterio says “Digital is certainly the way modern video surveillance is going. With VCR systems the tapes deteriorate or don’t get replaced when they should. You have to constantly feed tape into the VCRs. The recording heads also go bad if they’re not attended to on a regular basis. Digital recording eliminates all of these problems.”

Monitoring Multiple Locations

Networking is another important benefit offered by the ELMO system, which can be hooked up to a LAN (local area network) or WAN (wide area network). By having systems at multiple locations, users can view any of these areas from any location.