CCTV Systems Do More Than Protect Against Shoplifters

When CCTV systems first came onto the market, the cameras were somewhat large, produced heat and had vidicon tubes that when trained on one subject for an extended period of time had the image of that area burned into the tube. Despite their drawbacks many businesses adopted CCTV cameras and their systems as a tool to combat shoplifting. CCTV cameras today are now smaller, produce little or no heat, have chips that gather images and don’t burn in instead of vidicon tubes. The small sizes and high quality images produced by today’s CCTV cameras make an attractive and affordable solution to property protection.

There are few people who do not know that most businesses have CCTV systems inside of the store, office, warehouse or factory. What many people do not know is that the CCTV systems have moved outdoors and can be found in most store parking lots, watching gas pumps or providing perimeter security at factories, warehouses or truck parking areas. These outdoor cameras protect against vandalism, theft or other means of trespass.

Exterior cameras can often be recognized by a smoked glass or chrome dome hanging from the side of a building. These domes contain cameras that have pan/tilt head inside of them and the camera inside is normally equipped with a motorized zoom lens. The pan/tilt head inside of the dome can automatically pan the camera providing a view of the entire area that the camera is able to view. The operator can, at any time, stop the auto pan function and zoom in on a subject. The ability of the operator to move the camera to any area of the property within sight and to zoom in on the subject provides additional security for the property.

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.

With the growth and prevalence of the Internet, there no longer is a need for a security guard to be onsite to monitor the CCTV system. Through the use of the Internet and motion detection, a camera viewing a plant can transmit the images to a central station when motion is detected. The operators at the central station can notify the proper law enforcement offices if trespass is detected. Interior cameras in stores still protect against shoplifting. Exteriors of the building or plant are now likewise protected by CCTV systems. This protection is affordable, reliable and accurate. CCTV systems will, in future years become more prevalent and more and more businesses and even cities and towns will utilize this technology.

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