Learn CCTV teaches the basics of CCTV’s from simple to high end IP systems. Umar Haq talks to Locksmith about the CCTV monitoring and useful detecting systems.
As you may have seen when out shopping or walking around town centres, there is a vast amount of CCTV cameras which surround the areas watching and monitoring individuals safety. Reports claim there is approximately 11 cameras for every one person in the UK.
But how many of these are actually monitored all the time? Personally, I would suggest very few!
After being called out to attend many sites during my career, many organisations tend to only refer to their CCTV’s when an incident has taken place.
In the main, smaller retail stores tend to be the largest users to monitor CCTV and many will have monitors close to the checkout to enable staff to can keep an eye on the store. Store owners nowadays also use their mobile phones or tablet devices to monitor their premises, allow them to be absent but still keep an eye on the staff and clients.
Recent news reports claimed that due to budget cuts within local authority departments, some town centres have stopped monitoring their CCTV’s during the evenings.
Another method of which could be used for monitoring prominent, more targeted sites such as jewellery stores or banks is ‘Off Site Remote Monitoring’. This is when someone is monitoring the site but from a monitoring centre and the basic principal behind it is, all video footage is being transmitted to a remote monitor station and being recorded there.
Should an incident take place, then the monitoring station would take the necessary steps to call the emergency services. Many warehousing facilities have adopted this method of monitoring to help keep goods and warehouses safe during evenings and weekends, rather than employing security staff. CCTV can offer a better and cheaper way of monitoring stock.
Detectors cover the warehouse area and transmit back to a device which sends out signals to the monitoring station. Sites can also incorporate bi-directional audio, which means the monitoring station can listen and talk back to the site remotely. Any site with internet connection can adopt this method.
Smart Monitoring
Let’s say, a bag was left unattended in a shopping centre, normally footage would be rewound to find who left it, this could take a while. But using smart monitoring, you simply highlight the bag and the DVR will automatically scanning through the footage and take you to the point when the bag was left. This can happen within a matter of minutes.
This is extremely useful for supermarkets, in particularly if high value items have gone missing from shelves, using the same method to catch the shoplifters.
Systems have even developed a stage further with the airports and unattended baggage mode is selected if a bag has been left in a place unattended for more than a certain amount of time, an alarm is sounded to notify the operator to take the necessary actions.