Video Monitoring

Why Video Monitoring? Traditionally, when an alarm is reported from a non-video monitored system, the operations centre needs to make phone calls to a list of after-hours contacts to advise an alarm has been received. From there, the contacts may decide whether to dispatch a patrol to site, ignore the activation, or attend site themselves. This has some problems:
  • The alarm may be benign: Dispatching a patrol will incur a cost, and calling contacts in the middle of the night is not a pleasant experience.
  • The alarm may be legitimate: If no action is taken, the loses or damage could be severe
  • Patrol time is costly: On average, it takes abut 30 minutes for a patrol to reach site; by which time, the break-in could be completed.
  • Staff safety is compromised: Sending staff to site is not always advisable if a legitimate threat to safety exists.
How Video Monitoring Works: A Video-Monitored system consists of two parts: The alarm/intrusion detection system, and the surveillance system. The systems are integrated so that the activations from one are verified from the other. On an alarm activation:
  • The operations centre receives the alarm
  • The detector which triggered the alarm is mapped to a corresponding camera, which covers the detection area.
  • The security operator checks the respective camera, and verifies the alarm (eg: benign, intruder, animal, etc).
  • Upon verifying the alarm, appropriate action is taken. This may be to close the alarm as benign, or immediately dispatch police in the event of a confirmed break-in.
  • The control room may also take additional action, such as using a voice-blast to ward off suspected intruders.
How This Fixes the Problems of Traditional Monitoring:
  • Calls to after-hours contacts do not need to be made if the operations centre has been able to verify the alarm is benign.
  • In the event of a confirmed break-in or theft, police can be called immediately, rather than having to wait for a patrol to attend site.
  • Staff safety is not compromised by having to attend site.
  • Costs associated with dispatching patrols are eliminated