Use of CCTV surveillance

CCTV surveillance systems can provide years of storage--more than 1 million GB!--that should not be the objective. As with computers (which these systems really are), added storage can mean added expense. Therefore, although companies aren't as constrained with digital as they are with tape (after all, not many tapes get changed at businesses on weekends!), this shouldn't be a license to record everything at full speed.

It is suggested that the CCTV surveillance system be operated at faster speeds (higher frames per second) at times and locations when and where the company experiences the most problems. Elsewhere, the CCTV surveillance systems runs at lower speeds? All CCTV surveillance systems might be running at a faster rate, but after closing, they run at a slower rate. The digital user has much flexibility. For instance, users can select a different record rate for each CCTV surveillance system camera as well as set each camera to record in time-lapse mode, event mode or both.

one camera could record one picture per second continuously (time lapse). A second camera could be set to record nothing at all until an event happens, such as a door opening, at which time it would record up to 30 pictures per second (event). A third camera could record at three pictures per second until an event occurs, at which time it could begin recording at a higher rate (time lapse and event). Thus, users can capture what they want, when they want it, without recording unwanted information.

The use of CCTV would be to inform all employees of any and all CCTV surveillance in the workplace. Often the installation of CCTV measure is taken as a security measure and employees are not informed that their conduct may be monitored. Employers should have clear policies in place in relation to the monitoring of employees and ideally a clause should be inserted in the contract of employment or staff handbook, whereby the employee gives his or her clear consent to all types of monitoring (e-mail, Internet, business calls and CCTV) in the workplace.

CCTV surveillance systems have evolved into a forensic tool — that is, collecting evidence after an event has occurred.But as CCTV surveillance systems become more easily integrated with monitoring devices, alarm systems and access control devices, a third use of CCTV is gaining momentum Helping security personnel to identify and interrupt security breaches as they’re occurring, or even before they take place. Intelligent video algorithms, such as sophisticated motion detection, can identify unusual walking patterns and alert a guard to watch a particular video screen. Object-recognition algorithms can identify someone who might simply be loitering, or even a briefcase or other suspicious object that is left somewhere it shouldn’t be. The most advanced intelligent video algorithm is facial recognition. However, most experts agree that use of this technology as an efficient tool in the private sector is still several years down the road.