Friday, July 31, 2009

CCTV Systems, How One Little Device Can Secure So Much Property

By Ben Sparks

Ever since the advent of small affordable CCTV systems, protection of property has been a paramount use. Originally most of the CCTV systems were located indoors and utilized as a deterrent against shoplifters. As CCTV systems, particularly cameras have become smaller and more inexpensive, the CCTV cameras have moved outdoors and now provide property owners an added measure of security in protecting their property.

While the utilization of CCTV systems indoors is common knowledge, many people do not recognize that there are cameras out of doors also. These cameras monitor everything from the parking lot at Wal Mart to the gas pump at the neighborhood convenience store. These cameras are there to protect the property from theft and or vandalism.

CCTV cameras that are outdoors can often be recognized. The housing that holds the camera may be the size of a loaf of bread. Alternatively the housing can be a dome that is smoked glass or glazed silver or gold. These dome housings hang like pendants from walls and light poles. The cameras that are in the domes are often mounted to pan/tilt heads and equipped with telephoto zoom lenses. These devices permit the camera to scan the entire area around the camera and are not fixed to a single location. Should trespass be viewed by the operator, the pan/tilt head can be stopped in the location of the trespass, the camera zoomed in to the trespasser and the movements of that person followed with the pan/tilt function controlled manually. This ability allows one camera to do the function of several cameras thus reducing the overall cost of the CCTV system while increasing its effectiveness.

Exterior CCTV cameras and their housings are often subject to vandalism. This vandalism may be teens attempting to destroy something "just for the fun of it" or an actual intruder attempting to deny security their identification. Manufacturers are well aware of this problem and for areas that are or may be subject to vandalism provide ballistic rated housings. These ballistic rated housings are strong enough to withstand a bullet shot at the camera housing. More expensive than standard housings, for many areas, ballistic rated housings provide a cost savings to the owners of the property.

Personnel costs are a major budget factor for any business or company. The utilization of CCTV systems permits the owners to decrease the onsite security staff and use the CCTV system to provide the security for the area. This reduction in staff saves on payroll and the use of a CCTV system insures constant reliable surveillance of the area around and inside the plant or buildings. Additionally many insurance companies recognize the value of CCTV systems on the premises and provide lower rates for those facilities that do have CCTV system coverage.

CCTV systems today can even be monitored remotely through the Internet. This ability permits the owner to no longer have a full time security staff at the plant after hours. Should motion be detected the images from that camera are transmitted to the central station where they can be viewed and remedial actions determined. CCTV systems still protect against shoplifting, however the job of property protection has expanded for CCTV systems and will continue to expand in the future.

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