Can a high-tech, high-cost video surveillance system be wasted on its monitors?
August 1, 2014
According to Royce Jeffries, the VP of Security Risk Management for Cornhusker Bank, the area had been affected by “lane gang crimes” – thieves break into vehicles or homes to take wallets and checkbooks. Then they drive to the bank with a check and the account holder’s ID, go to the furthest drive-through lane, often in disguise, and try to cash checks.
The disclosures by Edward Snowden over the past year have raised the public’s awareness about the U.S. Government’s surveillance tactics and capabilities to defend our nation against another 9/11 magnitude attack.
Surveillance was performed by putting people on the street and watching from parked cars and vans disguised at Bell Telephone service vehicles with portholes cut out for still cameras.
The migration from analog to digital has been on the rise for several years and thanks to new computer technologies, video over IP is more prevalent today.
River Islands has been advertised as the ideal place to raise a family because of extensive surveillance technology, security checkpoints and other policing strategies.
Violent crime has either steadily declined or increased, depending upon the part of the country, although consistent budget cuts are one reason that lawmakers in some municipalities have been forced to hire fewer police officers when new camera equipment will do.
According to Greg DeCanio, the Chief of Law Enforcement at LIMA, the new video management system provides airport security personnel with “the ability to access video at our computers, making us more efficient and letting us monitor activity for security and law enforcement purposes at the touch of a button.”
The results have been amazing: over the course of six months, more than 100 arrests have been made for outstanding warrants, gun violations, underage drinking, drug possession and robbery. Crime and vandalism are down; hikers and bikers feel safe again visiting the area.
Viakoo detects and alerts customers to anything that threatens, degrades or stops a video stream from the camera across the network to the recording disks; every 20- minutes. It also points to the probable cause and what corrective action should be taken
The concept of remote decision making, while necessary in 2000, is not necessary today. Let’s use the significant security and power of existing IT networks, let it all be managed by IT and let security get back to their primary job, deciding who should get in and responding to those who should not.
The Town of Addison, Texas, is also seeing a return on its surveillance investment through easier-to-manage VMS. After a routine camera filter-and-replace, the Town’s IT department replaced cameras at three locations throughout the community: a 150,000 square-foot Athletic Club , a 44,000 square-foot Conference and Theatre Centre , and the 20-acre Addison Circle Park.
In business, anomalies (events that differ from the norm) should get your attention. From a loss prevention perspective, one of the most effective ways to counter theft and fraud is to identify and track POS transactions that differ from the norm.