The CCTV Reality

[yanieh 0]

Failures of CCTV Systems to cut crimes and provide helpful evidences for police investigations are being reported on news; and are spreading over the web. This reality triggers the qualms on the reliability of CCTV Systems. Due to this fact, the concerned public can't help but ask and react.

 

Do CCTV Systems really help us protect our personal and professional assets and properties? Or are they just waste of money?

 

Do you believe it is a Win-Lose business offering from the CCTV Products manufacturers? That they are just making money out of the deals and not really taking the responsibility of providing the proper security solutions that customers deserve?

 

Do you agree that CCTV Systems don't really work as deterrent to potential thieves? And serve more like just decors to business and home facilities?

 

If it really isn't helpful then why are there more and more businesses and residential structures requiring CCTV Systems be installed on their sites? Why do some government sectors of different countries enforce the installation of such equipments to private and public places as a law?

 

A CCTV should work and perform the way it was designed. It should provide security and protection. As we all know, there isn't a single thing perfect in this world. A CCTV System may honestly fail at times but what's important is for us to know the factors contributing to its failure and how we are going to deal with it.

[Thomas 0]

CCTV as a deterrent is not effective. It's too ubiquitous and people have seen way too much old grainy video. Which is amazingly ironic when you combine it with people's expectations from CSI.

 

It doesn't scare criminals and owners expect more then is realistic. Combined with a ton of ****ty installers and people who think "how hard can this be", you end up with something that doesn't solve the problems.

[normicgander 0]

Failures of CCTV Systems to cut crimes and provide helpful evidences for police investigations are being reported on news; and are spreading over the web. This reality triggers the qualms on the reliability of CCTV Systems. Due to this fact, the concerned public can't help but ask and react.

Yes there are many systems which fail to produce usable forensic evidence, but what were the end users expectations? Who is at fault really? Was it a charleton dealer/installer pushing low-quality equipment or was it the customer or end-user purchasing low-end equipment (internet direct) because they either didn't know better (or thought they did), or was it because they were too cheap to invest in a quality system. I would say most CCTV systems are used for post event analysis and are helpful to figure out when and what happened.

 

Let's also face the fact that most DVRs over compress video to achieve longer record times, thus greatly deminishing image quality. The industry needs to move toward progress scan cameras, whereby compete frames are recorded, would be helpful under many conditions (even at D1).

 

Do CCTV Systems really help us protect our personal and professional assets and properties? Or are they just waste of money?

 

Most of the time yes, sometimes no. There are some criminal elements which will hit quick regardless of the countermeasure.

 

 

 

Do you believe it is a Win-Lose business offering from the CCTV Products manufacturers? That they are just making money out of the deals and not really taking the responsibility of providing the proper security solutions that customers deserve?

 

Sometimes, but many industries have similar problems... quality, performance, service etc..

 

Do you agree that CCTV Systems don't really work as deterrent to potential thieves? And serve more like just decors to business and home facilities?

 

I would say they do deter many criminals. This is why some criminals often case businesses to see the weaknesses they can exploit.

 

 

If it really isn't helpful then why are there more and more businesses and residential structures requiring CCTV Systems be installed on their sites? Why do some government sectors of different countries enforce the installation of such equipments to private and public places as a law?

 

I'm not aware of any businesses or residences "requiring" any CCTV here the US (thank goodness). Perhaps there are some socialist countries or others which practice forms of totalitarianism.

 

It should provide security and protection.

 

Hmm.. not sure CCTV itself can provide security and protection-especially unmanned systems. Perhaps alarms system can. Even with alarm systems a premeditated criminal could break in for whatever reason and be gone in a few minutes before the police arrive.....

[normicgander 0]

Interesting article...

 

http://www.3v.pl/pdf/or_manual.pdf

[yanieh 0]

I do believe a CCTV System can perform to its optimum efficiency and effectiveness if the raw materials and equipments will come from a quality and reliable CCTV Supplier. Failures of the system can be prevented if it is to be setup and maintained properly. Still, I think it all boils down to choosing the best Supplier and Installer for the CCTV System.

[rory 0]

in this country its most useful to see the criminal during the act, like when they are outside trying to come and get you. The courts here normally just throw the video out and thats only if the cops ever show it to them, and they only have VCRs to play video and that too is only in rare instances.

 

With or without the legal side of it, CCTV is still very useful for retailers which in most cases involve cameras in full lighting and small FOVs.

[rory 0]

Hmm.. not sure CCTV itself can provide security and protection-especially unmanned systems. Perhaps alarms system can. Even with alarm systems a premeditated criminal could break in for whatever reason and be gone in a few minutes before the police arrive.....

 

alarms here arent much use either besides alerting you to a criminal coming to attack you or break in while you are at the location, here the criminal can be inside for a couple hours or days before the cops turn up if at all.

[Forestarius 0]

My number one camera is on the private road leading to my house. It sends out an email with a picture of the vehicle and a good image of the license plate most of the time. Next are the wideangle area cameras that just see what's going on around the house but are worthless for IDing an unknown person. The front and back door have ID cameras to capture faces.

 

Maybe I can't stop them from coming here and breaking in, but if I have their license number and a good mugshot of them, the Sheriff will be paying them a visit.

 

The key to being a useful system is it has to be able to help track down an unknown person. Without a license plate or good face shot there is no way to ID the person. A system that can't do that for you is almost worthless.