How would you secure this subdivision?

[seobizniche 0]

How would you strategically place cameras in this subdivision? We are looking to cut down vandalism in our sub by securing the entry points highlighted in RED and our streets highlighted in YELLOW (on the 2nd image below). We would like to be able to recognize license plates & preferably faces during day/nighttime footage. What do you suggest? All ideas are welcome.

 

[Guest]

How would you strategically place cameras in this subdivision? We are looking to cut down vandalism in our sub by securing the entry points highlighted in RED and our streets highlighted in YELLOW (on the 2nd image below). We would like to be able to recognize license plates & preferably faces during day/nighttime footage. What do you suggest? All ideas are welcome.

 

A couple of questions,

 

Regarding the requirement to recognize license plates, are you looking to record images oof license plates or automatically create a database so that you can asign black list alarm notification? (if so can you let us know where you are so that we can understand the size of the license plate?)

 

Regarding the requirement to recognize faces, is this over the entire area indicated in yellow or just the key locations?

 

Is the system to be monitored in real time and if so from where?

 

Can you give us an indication of your budget?

 

Thanks

 

Ilkie

[seobizniche 0]

Hi ilk, thanks for your response. Below are answers to your questions:

 

Regarding the requirement to recognize license plates, are you looking to record images oof license plates or automatically create a database so that you can asign black list alarm notification? (if so can you let us know where you are so that we can understand the size of the license plate?)

We just want the video footage to be clear (day and night) so that when we review it for suspicious activity, we can retrieve license plate numbers for cars that drove in the covered area.

 

Regarding the requirement to recognize faces, is this over the entire area indicated in yellow or just the key locations?

Key locations and entire yellow area. Again, something good enough to be able to submit for evidence. We're not looking for this to be CIA grade or anything.

 

Is the system to be monitored in real time and if so from where?

No, we just want to archive footage and review later in case of an incident.

 

Can you give us an indication of your budget?

To be honest, we would love our budget to be $0 but we know that won't be the case. It would help if you could throw some numbers or ranges for us to get a better idea of what we're dealing with. I know sky's the limit but what do you think a system that does the job could cost?

[NotoriousBRK 0]

Hi ilk, thanks for your response. Below are answers to your questions:

 

Regarding the requirement to recognize license plates, are you looking to record images oof license plates or automatically create a database so that you can asign black list alarm notification? (if so can you let us know where you are so that we can understand the size of the license plate?)

We just want the video footage to be clear (day and night) so that when we review it for suspicious activity, we can retrieve license plate numbers for cars that drove in the covered area.

 

Regarding the requirement to recognize faces, is this over the entire area indicated in yellow or just the key locations?

Key locations and entire yellow area. Again, something good enough to be able to submit for evidence. We're not looking for this to be CIA grade or anything.

 

Is the system to be monitored in real time and if so from where?

No, we just want to archive footage and review later in case of an incident.

 

Can you give us an indication of your budget?

To be honest, we would love our budget to be $0 but we know that won't be the case. It would help if you could throw some numbers or ranges for us to get a better idea of what we're dealing with. I know sky's the limit but what do you think a system that does the job could cost?

 

A very rough budget, but if you want to get faces and plates across that entire area, figure about $75 USD per linear foot of coverage with that level of detail.

[seobizniche 0]

Thanks NotoriousBRK! With that in mind, the yellow surface all around translates to about 11,000 ft or roughly $800k in deployment. I know for a fact we won't be able to afford something that high. Can general street surveillance be deployed for the yellow area + entry points for $50k-$75k or under? I guess I need to approach a few professionals to quote us precisely.

[NotoriousBRK 0]

Thanks NotoriousBRK! With that in mind, the yellow surface all around translates to about 11,000 ft or roughly $800k in deployment. I know for a fact we won't be able to afford something that high. Can general street surveillance be deployed for the yellow area + entry points for $50k-$75k or under? I guess I need to approach a few professionals to quote us precisely.

 

 

*Maybe*. You can get down to about $10/foot for a low pixel density (~8 pixels per foot) system, again being very rough budget. (I'm a manufacturer (VideoIQ), not an installer, so others can probably give you better quotes).

 

You have 3 entrances, each would need at least 2 cameras (plus recorders, mounting hardware, installation, etc.). Frankly I wouldn't even try to do that with normal cameras (for license plates), I'd use specialized LP optimized cameras (I like this one: http://www.iluminarinc.com/LPRSSeries.html ) along with a megapixel camera as an overview of the gate. But that's going to set you back around $6000 just for the gates (cameras, encoders, recorder, etc.). Let's say that gives you $70K to spread over ~ 2miles of interior.

 

Lots of small things come into play here... Can you mount cameras to existing poles, or do you need to install your own poles? Is power available for the cameras? What is the illumination like? Do you need to worry about privacy masking?

 

I think that what you want is not really want you want. You are unlikely with even a million dollar system to get end to end coverage sufficient to actually catch people in the act. And in most places, if you don't have video of the suspect actually committing the crime, then the other video is just "helpful" it's not "prosecution grade".

 

I'd do something like this:

 

1) Add high resolution megapixel (1080p) cameras and good lighting at the gates to log all vehicles coming in/out

2) Add dedicated License Plate capture cams at the gates to log plates.

3) Put up high resolution (1080p) cameras at 9 or 10 key points along the roadways so that if a vehicle comes into the property you have a rough idea of where it went and when.

 

This might be a $20-$40K system, depending on lots of factors. But, if something happens you'll have a pretty good log of suspicious vehicles and timestamps of when they were in the area. The police can use this in a typical investigation, and while it might not lead to an immediate arrest, it will greatly optimize the investigation process. Most likely you won't get much incremental evidence quality by spending another $200K, the next jump would be the full prison-state lockdown setup with cameras end to end, and most residential areas don't really want that.

[Nimrod 0]

If you are setting up a surveillance system in a subdivision were do you put the DVR and how do you get all the cameras connected to it, and what about power? In my subdivision we do not even have street lamps.

[NotoriousBRK 0]

If you are setting up a surveillance system in a subdivision were do you put the DVR and how do you get all the cameras connected to it, and what about power? In my subdivision we do not even have street lamps.

 

Depends, but I'm thinking of this as an IP-based system (so, NVR not DVR) using some kind of wireless network (mesh, 802.11 point to point, etc.) with a centralized NVR/video server somewhere.

 

There are a ton of what-ifs, and possible outcomes with this scenario that will make it impossible to properly design without an on-site consult. My initial answers were to give him something to think about and establish pricing at least within an order of magnitude. I get a lot of dealers and end-users that come to us with grand dreams of CSI-grade security across a big subdivision or campus, and then when they realize the budget and practicalities recognize that it might be best to scale back a bit.

 

So, in this case, it could end up being DVR's, NVR's, storage in the camera (my favorite ) or some combination. I've also seen residential systems like this where some of the components are mounted in or on the residences and the resident gets a comp from the HOA for power usage and convenience.

[seobizniche 0]

NotoriousBRK, those are absolutely great points. Thanks for chiming in once again. We currently DO HAVE light posts throughout the sub and they can be used for camera mounting purposes as per the HOA. Each light post is about 12-14ft high and would probably need a custom fab'd bracket to hold camera/IR in place. But I might be wrong. Since each post has a 120VAC drop of its own, I think it'll be sufficient to provide power to the camera and IR. I may be going a bit overboard but i'm just trying to see where every we can cut costs. As per our HOA, we don't need to worry about privacy masking. I also agree with you on the point that with even a lower end yet well planned system we'd have a "pretty good log of suspicious vehicles and timestamps of when they were in the area". That's the whole purpose! Even if we deploy a million dollar system, that is not going to completely PUT AN END to vandalism; it'll just limit it. I'd rather take my chances and limit 70% vandalism vs 90%. I think that a cost efficient rollout that is backed by a well planned design will be effective enough for our needs. Thanks a lot for your help.