Category Archives: CCTV

Home office appoints interim CCTV regulator

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New CCTV regulator appointed.

Andy Rennison has been appointed by the home office as the interim CCTV regulator. His role has been defined as one that will set standards and regulation for contemporary CCTV systems.

What is involved?

The job will include setting up a quality standards framework that will ensure that images are delivered that improve security, reduce crime, and create safe environments for the public and the business community.

Why now?

Essentially to enable CCTV to be used in the public domain it must be treated in the same way forensic evidence is processed by the police and the courts and to this end the aim is to ensure quality images are recovered and these are processed correctly during the  enhancement and analysis stage.

A modern standards framework.

The new regulator will also work towards a modern standards framework to guide us in the responsible use of CCTV and set regulation that will suit the public interest. With IP CCTV bringing new installers into the market place standards are crucial to ensure experience and high standards of installation are rewarded

Complaints process.

A complaints process will also be put in place to ensure the public feel that CCTV is being used correctly and this will also enable them to appreciate the benefits that the use of CCTV systems brings to us all. The interim process will take up to 12 months and its hoped will have the wide support of the public , police, courts and of course the government.

Much awaited detail and clarity.

As we all know business drives the CCTV market and the market place is moving quickly to embrace new IP camera technology and integrated CCTV systems. This brings us much awaited detail and clarity but also this change brings many new challenges especially from a forensic and evidential point of view . So to allow us all to go forward we need to take stock now, set standards and regulation that can be implemented and used by all to ensure CCTV continues to drive crime and unsociable behaviour away. This will give the public, police and courts the utmost confidence in this new IP world.

Garden centre CCTV

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Integrated CCTV in garden centres.

Garden centres are notoriously difficult to protect. They are generally sited out of town and as a rule tend to back onto country side. As a result lighting is pretty much non existent and boundaries are easily accessible. Add to this the nature of the stock, easily moved, easily sold and generally quite expensive.

Lots of work  going to waste.

Some of the stock can take many months or years to reach a maturity where it can be sold so is very difficult to replace. A major break in at a garden centre especially externally can be a substantial setback to the business. So historically what type of security measures has the industry taken? Well in truth probably less than most businesses that store the majority of their value externally.

CCTV security in garden centres.

CCTV Cameras have always had a duel purpose within garden centres, they act as a deterrent for shoplifters during the day and give added security at night when being used for monitored CCTV. But what about lighting and how do false alarms affect the system on those hot summer evenings after the site is closes? You have plants and trees blowing about in front of the sensors sending an untenable amount of activations through to the central station. To be honest none of these issues have ever really been solved properly. Now however there is a product that will work in all situations and it is starting to become an affordable solution.

FLIR thermal CCTV cameras.

FLIR thermal CCTV cameras can now solve the problems of lighting and false alarms when combined with intelligent analytic technology. Now its not cheap but when you consider the on going cost of lighting, increasing light pollution issues and the reliability which means false alarms are essentially eliminated then it does become an attractive prospect. FLIR are confident that within 3-5 years prices will compete easily with high end spec analogue cameras and also the prices of HD and mega pixel IP camera solutions.

Conclusion.

So in conclusion security will always be required at garden centres and now after many years of false dawns a real security solution is on the horizon that  could be both affordable, reliable and stable.

IP CCTV. Who is to blame when it fails?

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Who takes the wrap when the network goes down?

It seems a fairly simple question. A break -in has occurred, there is a very large loss and someone needs to pay up. Well of course it must be the installer who is to blame? Perhaps in the old days of analogue CCTV systems it generally was and often quite easy to prove that this was the case.

Integrated IP solutions means things are different now.

IP security solutions mean that by the very nature of the product there are lots of different technologies integrated into one holistic solution. We now have an installers cameras going onto to a customers network , linked to a router (sometimes wireless) connected to an unmonitored broadband connection. Then we send the data through countless different routes in the Internet cloud, to be finally viewed by a third party monitoring station. Lots to go awry i would suggest and no real way of finding out who is to blame when things go wrong.

Emizon IP monitoring.

The very first thing that installers should insist upon is that the broadband line is properly monitored and Emizon offers that solution. It gives the peace of mind to the installer and the customer that should the broadband line fail for any reason the key holders will be called . In addition it gives the installer the ability following an incident to check that the line was intact at the time.

Third party remote connection.

It is also crucial that the installer has the ability to remotely connect to the customers site at all times. Most DVR’s and VMS software gives a comprehensive log of how the customers network is responding and will also record if any cameras have failed and for what reason .

Logs at the central station.

Finally a central station should be used that offers both the customer and the installer complete transparency when it comes to viewing events stored at the monitoring centre. The best RVRC’s offer this service through a web browser and this can never be underestimated as a service when a dispute arises.

In summary.

With analytics becoming more popular in generating alarms and cameras becoming more powerful in the images they can provide, remote monitoring of  IP camera systems will be increasing. Failure however in picking up incidents will never go away but the best installers will ensure that with extensive testing during the commissioning process and service engineers who always fully test systems during routine maintenance will suffer far fewer incidents and far fewer cases of litigation against them.

Advice on choosing a CCTV installer

My advice to end users is choose your installer with care IT integrators may seem an attractive solution but there is no substitute for a professional CCTV installer.


Integrated CCTV System

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Integrated CCTV systems.

What are the elements involved in a fully integrated CCTV system?  Starting with the a basic CCTV system we will always have the cameras , the DVR and the monitor. this is what people generally understand when they ask to have a CCTV system installed.

Lots of applications.

We can have an internal CCTV system, an external CCTV system or we can have a mixture of both. Until recently CCTV systems tended to be restricted to a fairly small number of cameras usually up to about 16. Of course there has always been a need on bigger sites for more cameras but there was always the restrictions. The number of frames per second per camera that a DVR could process for instance. The more FPS the more expensive the DVR tended to be to accommodate. Then of course we have the picture quality. Analogue CCTV cameras have always been restricted as to how many lines they can produce to make up the image we see on the screen.

Better picture quality.

Although cameras have advanced to allow more lines,  420 TVL would be typical for instance. It does not stop there, we are then restricted by the monitors and the picture quality they can produce . With the introduction of IP we now have the exciting development of HD CCTV and this means mega pixels and in turn a huge advance in picture quality that we can expect from our recorded images in the future.

Integrated CCTV solutions provide so much more.

Integrated CCTV systems though consist of more .They can be hybrid CCTV systems part analogue, part IP. They can be Integrated to access control systems and linked to central stations. They can be linked to external alarm systems. Sensors, fixed beams and so on to give us many different security solutions and the ability to generate alarms.

CCTV in the future.

Most integrated CCTV systems of the future however will be able to incorporate analytics to generate alarms. This could be used to warn of a terrorists threat such as abandoned luggage and suspicious behaviour etc. The CCTV systems can be integrated to ANPR software that will allow number plate recognition to control barriers and access control and the  police are able to track suspicious vehicles across the country by using this ANPR technology. CCTV systems can now integrate to biometric readers to allow faces to be linked to finger prints this offers companies a huge upgrade of security within their organisation.

In summary.

In summary CCTV systems on their own will be a thing of the past. Integrated security in its many forms is the way forward for the future. IP cameras and the improved picture quality they bring together with analytics and more flexibilty are just around the corner , things are moving fast!

Car Dealership CCTV Remote Monitoring

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Manned guard v CCTV

Fraught with pitfalls, remote monitoring of car dealerships has long been debated as to its cost effectiveness. However the cost comparisons against damage and loss always seem to add up in favour of a CCTV solution. For instance it can cost as little as £4000 per annum to monitor a reasonable size car forecourt and its associated compound . An on site security guard could cost as much as £50,000 p.a to provide the same service .

Cost of CCTV

Of course you have the capital cost of the CCTV equipment , certainly not a small investment by any stretch of the imagination. However once you have taken that step you will always  have a security infrastructure and this should never be underestimated . Its pure visual presence will always be a deterrent. Certainly better that a sleeping security guard when it comes to putting off the criminal. In  fairness what can a security guard actually do without the help of  CCTV? Without some kind of camera network he does not have the tools to look after the premises, after all he cannot be looking in all directions at the same the time. So you may as well get that CCTV remotely monitored.

Manned guarding , the choice

The problems of Manned guarding  can be summed up as follows. He can be taken out , bribed or even asleep and most incidents that occur when a guard is on site are “never Seen”. We would however never disregard the benefits of a guard on site but would have to point out that guards tend to be employed retrospectively in response to a specific incident that has occurred on a site rather than as a long term permanent solution.

The Integrated CCTV solution

Now broadband is a feature that most garages and car dealers possess  there is no longer the need for ISDN lines to transmit pictures to your central station . CCTV integrated to hybrid DVR’s that can easily transmit to the control centre and once criminal activity is confirmed by a remote central station operator then a guard response can easily be co ordinated to ensure any crime is stopped at a minimal cost to the car dealer. All sorts of camera  and integrated solutions are available .The Metal mickey and Predator camera range offer vandal proof solutions and Panasonic, or Honeywell IP external domes are another way forward. IP is almost always the best way forward now as it future proofs any solution the car dealer may wish to consider installing.

Use existing CCTV cameras.

However never rule out a hybrid solution, using legacy CCTV equipment integrated to codecs enables us to offer CCTV analytics and IP compatibility. The options now are endless and without doubt very much cheaper than a manned guarding solution. When you work out the cost over a 5 year period then expect to pay only 30% for an integrated CCTV security solution against manned guarding.

HD CCTV for quality images.

IP CCTV in the new HD format will give quality images that could only have been a pipe dream before and the Manned guard solution to site security will become a less and less common feature. The picture quality is stunning and a demonstration is a must to prove this.

Conclusion.

We have been through a period where car dealers, garden centres, scrap yards logistic companies and in fact any one who needs external security have had some good and bad experiences with remote monitoring. It has always been recognised as cheaper but not necessarily better. But now with the advent of broadband IP cameras and most importantly HD CCTV the balance is swinging very much in favour of the remotely monitored IP CCTV solution.