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CCTV stands for Closed-Circuit Television, and these cameras transmit video signals through a closed circuit through the NVR (Network Video Recorder) or DVR (Digital Video Recorder) for processing and storage which is then transmitted to a specific set of monitors for viewing.
The systems allow you to view the footage as a live stream and also save it to a digital video recorder (DVR) or a Network Video Recorder (NVR) where it can be viewed later.
CCTV cameras previously were only common in commercials buildings but today it is seen in all types of buildings from homes, offices, roads, factories, warehouses, shops, stadiums, apartments etc. This is because more and more people are beginning to realize their benefits.
In South Sudan, CCTV cameras are most common in banks. If bankers one of the smartest professionals in the world consider a CCTV camera a necessity, it should be clear to you that CCTV cameras are an essential aspect of security
You need to be aware of all the different types of CCTV cameras, the features that come with them, the available high quality accessories to choose the right type of CCTV camera for your home, office or business since that, coupled with how effectively you use the system, is a significant determining factor in the effectiveness of a CCTV camera.
Here are a few important things to consider when choosing a CCTV camera for your home, office or business;
Do you want to have a criminal recorded by your system in action but when it is time to identify the burglar, the view is very blurry, the best you can see is a shape of a human being in action. Even though the criminal is not wearing a mask, the CCTV cameras have not been helpful, I bet you don't want to be in this kind of unfortunate scenario. The quality of the video your CCTV camera captures is one of the most important factors to consider carefully. It's like choosing the right kind of camera and lenses for professional photography. You wouldn't want blurred and hazy pictures ruining the quality of your view. It is important to get high-quality security cameras that can shoot clear footage in any time of day or weather condition
The higher the video quality of a CCTV camera, the clearer, and crisper the footage will be. If you and others wish to be able to see all the details, such as the faces of people around your property, number plates of vehicles and not just look at blobs, the minimum you must go for is a 1080p resolution. This is very important if you intend to submit your footage to security agencies in the future as evidence because they may not be willing to strain their eyes to identify a criminal, to reduces the chances of your footage being dismissed as “not clear” buy high resolution cameras.
The security and protection of your home must not just be limited to daytime, it must continue throughout the night as burglars usually operate at night. CCTV cameras with night vision, also referred to as infrared or IR, enable clear footage being captured despite the low-light conditions, even if there are no external lighting to aid in visibility. It is especially useful for outdoor cameras placed on the front and back of the house, office or business premise to have night vison capabilities.
Good night vision is paramount with security cameras. If they lack lights that enable color night vision, the security cameras should have infrared LED sensors to create a clear picture in the dark.
Last but certainly not least, look for a camera that can withstand the weather conditions in your area. Also consider one with a strong housing especially for outdoor that can withstand massive force in case of a hit by a stranger.
A CCTV camera is an electronic device that needs power to function which can be supplied through wires known as Power over Ethernet (PoE), direct power socket plugin or by using a battery. In either case, an uninterrupted power supply is necessary for the system to work 24/7.
To ensure that the CCTV camera is always operational, you must use a backup battery if the system is receiving power through the main supply. That way, even in the event of a power outage, the system can receive power to do its job. Be mindful of always changing or replacing your batteries when they reach their full capacity.
The footage captured by the CCTV cameras needs to be stored somewhere. There are different storage locations, such as a hard drive attached inside the recorders, the cloud storage, an external SD card, or a USB drive, where you can save all your files to be viewed later.
You must carefully choose the right type and sufficient storage space for your system. The type of storage you choose depends on your number of CCTV cameras and their image quality. The more the CCTV cameras, the more files you will need to save, the higher the quality of the video, the larger the size of the file to be stored. If there isn't enough space on your storage device, the system either overwrites the existing files or is unable to save the recorded footage at all.
The field of view of the camera is basically how wide of an area you wish for the CCTV camera to cover. Typically, the field of view ranges from a 100-degrees to about 180-degrees. As a best practice, the wider the area of coverage, the better.
Some cameras can be manually positioned in a way to cover certain angles you wish to cover, while other more advanced options include the PTZ camera that can be digitally controlled via an app to pan, tilt and zoom according to your needs.
Some cameras are meant to be discreet while others are visual deterrents. If you’re going to use visual deterrents, they need to be as visible as possible to the public. To get the most out of your system, it is necessary for the installation and positioning to be done perfectly.
To find out the areas around your house, office, business that can be break-in points or, it is always best to run a risk assessment of the main entry and exit points. You must make sure that vulnerable areas are all under CCTV surveillance and that the fields of view are all set to cover the whole area.
Also, make sure they are placed high up and as far away as possible, without sacrificing the video quality, to minimize the risk of them being damaged, stolen, or tampered with. Install the cameras in a way that if intruders try to disable them, they are recorded while doing it.
Spotting a security camera is likely to discourage a burglar in their attempts, as they not only know that the property is well protected, but also that there is a high chance that their face is being recorded and could potentially be passed on to the police. So it's important to ensure that they are in a location that is immediately obvious to anyone approaching the property.
It's important to remember that home security cameras are just one part of a comprehensive security system. Studies also show that when used with other security measures, you can boost the effectiveness of security cameras. The research lists other things burglars deem effective as deterrents, such as:
Alarm systems. Integrating your CCTV camera system with a burglar alarm can help enhance security against intrusions and burglaries since the burglar alarm will make noise to alert the home owners, neighbors and passers-by of the break-in, also potentially scaring away the intruders, while the CCTV cameras will record them in the act. The things that put people off the most when breaking and entering are sudden actions or noises that suggest they have been noticed by a machine, homeowner, security guard or someone.
Acess control. Access control systems such as magnetic lock systems prevent unauthorized access to properties. They come with different features, some can be set with a password, others can read specific authorized cards, others can recognize fingerprints and others have face recognition capabilities. This systems makes entry to buildings very difficult and can potentially trap criminals in the buildings.
Electric fences. These fences usually shock people when touched. If you have ever been shocked, then the benefit of electric fences is self explanatory.
Outdoor lighting. Especially motion sensor lights that go on when a movement is detected can scare away criminals. The ordinary lights is helpful as well, as it provides adequate lighting in the area for clear visibility when it is dark.
Security guards. These guards usually watch over the premises through the screens and can engage the burglars or criminals as soon as they are spotted. The contributions of security guards alongside CCTV cameras is massive, improving your security significantly.
Security signs. Sign posts that have a written notice informing the passers-by that the area is being monitored by CCTV cameras, guarded by security guards, has dogs, has alarms can be a good compliment to the existing CCTV cameras. They discourage criminals from making their criminal attempts because they could be monitored by CCTV cameras, people around could be instantly alerted by the alarms of their presence, they could be confronted by security guards or they could be attacked by dogs. All these could be too much to bear by potential burglars or criminals coming on your property, which is the combination you should strive for to ensure optimum security.
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The thought of having your every step recorded, your face recorded through a CCTV camera and could potentially be used against you makes burglars scared of targeting a CCTV camera surveyed area because their attempts are less likely to succeed and could be a disaster if the footage is used against them in the courts of law.
CCTV cameras act as one of the biggest deterrents for burglars with interviewed criminals saying that they would prefer not to target properties with a CCTV system in place. If criminals are making this kind of confession, then it must be absolutely true.
However, do not install a fake camera and hope that it will scare away are criminals, by doing that you are gambling with your security as your security is too precious to be left to chance. Criminals today are sophisticated as well, some of them can differentiate a toy from a real CCTV camera.
If the intruder or burglar manages to access your property despite the presence CCTV cameras, you can count on your CCTV cameras to provide all evidence of the break-in, along with the identity of the perpetrator.
The footage captured by the CCTV cameras makes catching the criminals much easier and can also be used as evidence in the court of law.
With CCTV cameras, you can be aware of what is happening around or inside your property from wherever you decide to go. The systems come with a remote monitoring feature that allows you to view what's happening in your home, office or business premises from absolutely anywhere in the world.
This can come in handy when you're away from home, business such as at work, at the supermarket, or on a vacation. It takes away a lot of the stress and worry about what's happening back home and if everything is okay.
If you have family members, kids, or assets that you'd like to keep an eye on while you're away, you can use remote monitoring to watch live footage on your smart device, provided you have a good internet connection, and also receive notifications of any sort of activity.
Some insurance companies offer reduced premiums for properties with CCTV systems installed. The presence of cameras indicates a lower risk profile, which can translate into cost savings on your insurance policies.
Insurance companies just want to be sure that you have done all your due diligence to secure your home, office or business and deter all such criminal activities.
Besides that installing CCTV cameras is one of the best security measures you can take to secure your home since it greatly reduces the chances of your property being broken into, burgled, or vandalized.
Unlike human security guards, CCTV cameras can't be distracted or lose focus, don't need coffee breaks, lunch breaks, bathroom breaks, emergency break, and sick leave or need many hours of sleep. They provide round-the-clock surveillance, ensuring that your property is monitored at all times. This constant vigilance can be particularly valuable for businesses or companies that operate outside of regular hours or have valuable assets to watch over.
For businesses, companies or NGO's CCTV cameras can enhance employee accountability, productivity and ensure adherence to company policies. This benefit should be carefully planned for so that it does not compromise employee privacy. This benefit is a very useful tool for enhancing supervisory roles, improving operational efficiency and addressing workplace issues.
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With so many institutions, individuals, companies, businesses, NGOs using CCTV cameras for surveillance, they are not perfect, they do have limitations?
CCTV cameras have a number of disadvantages but fortunately , there are ways to go about fixing some of the downsides;
CCTV cameras can scare away burglaries and deter criminals from targeting a property from the fear of getting caught later. But what happens when they break into a property despite the presence of cameras? Nothing. The systems can't stop the crime when it's in progress.
CCTV systems do not call the police or other law enforcement agencies to take action, making them less useful in trying to stop a burglary or a break-in.
There are countless times when you can't respond to the notifications sent to your phone via the CCTV system. You might not have internet access, you might be travelling, sleeping, or your phone might be on silent or vibrate, and the CCTV cameras can't attack the criminals or burglars.
CCTVs are vulnerable to being stolen, damaged, disarmed, and tampered with.This is likely the case with the ones placed outside your home since access to them is much easier than the ones placed inside.
To potentially prevent CCTV camera theft, damage, place the camera at a height where the criminals can't easily reach it. Buy CCTV cameras with vandal resistant housing to reduce the chances of damage if the criminals try to damage it, ensure it is firmly fitted on the wall, also place it at a point where the criminals are recorded in the act of damaging it, especially their faces.
CCTV cameras sometimes have blind spots that can enable tech savvy criminals to sneak through making them useless in this scenario.
The CCTV cameras come with different angles of view, to cover as much area as possible, you can use the one ones with 180 degree angles, you can install extra CCTV cameras to cover the blind spots or use a PTZ camera that comes with a 360-degree view of your surroundings. This way, you can keep an eye on all areas of your property, leaving no blind spots for criminals to take advantage of.
CCTV cameras are legal to use and you are permitted to record the footage, however, there are certain laws that you must abide by to respect others' privacy.
It is forbidden to install CCTV cameras in the bathroom or toilet, bedroom. If you have it installed in unusual places for whatever reason, you must let your family members, staff, employees, friends, neighbors know about it since it might violate their privacy rights.
When using outdoor security cameras to monitor the front and backyard, extra care must be taken to place the cameras in a way that they record only till the boundary of your house, office, business and do not intrude on your neighbor's privacy.
It's crucial to strike a balance between security and respecting the privacy rights of individuals. In some cases, you may need to pixelate video online to protect sensitive information or identities.
Though CCTV cameras are very beneficial in the long run, the initial installation costs can be significant. Additionally, ongoing maintenance, replacements and potential upgrades should be factored into your budget when considering the overall value of the system.
With everything digital these days, CCTV cameras are not an exception to hacking and can be used to spy on you. Someone with access to the system will have access to the entire footage along with the controls to disable and enable it.
Just as you take measures to secure your data online, you must also ensure to keep your CCTV cameras safe from the wrong hands too. This can be done by regularly updating your router password, your system password and choosing cameras with advanced encryption
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Just because you have indoor and outdoor CCTV cameras installed on your property does not mean that your home, office or business is completely secure, cameras are not a standalone security measure. They are very effective when integrated with other security approaches as described in detail above, as TechPro we recommend CCTV cameras as a non-negotiable part of your security system as they are a vital security measure.
Law enforcement agencies encourage the use of CCTV cameras in all kinds of residential and commercial properties since it not only reduces crime but also makes their job easier.
Yes, definitely CCTV cameras are worth it, it is better to be safe than sorry.
