Technology & Trends - CCTV cameras

For police, BWCs can significantly improve how evidence is collected by recording the visual and audio actions Body worn cameras (BWCs) are becoming common place in law enforcement. While the spotlight for body cameras is on police in the news, BWCs are also sought after in security-related contracts for airports, campuses, correctional facilities and for private security. It’s quite likely interactions with police or security guards will be recorded (people who re...

What does it take to be a success in the rapidly expanding home automation sector? For large and small security companies, making the jump from providing traditional security services to enabling the new Smart Home means dealing with competition. Security firms v/s cable and telco giants The market is filled with providers of all kind who want a piece of the action. In addition to security companies, cable and telco giants have all rolled out a home automation platform – usually on top o...

Today, the once crime-ridden area of Los Angeles is a flourishing shopping and tourist mecca Los Angeles struggled with a rising crime rate. Constant crime plagued the historic area with its well-known tourist attractions, which include TCL Chinese Theatre and the Walk of Fame. Criminal activity ranged from major to minor, from felonies to prostitution, public drunkenness, trespassing, vandalism, theft and on and on. Time and budget constraints had forced local police officer...

New notification appliances from Silent Knight provide code-required low-frequency output Just before the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) World Safety Conference and Expo, June 22-25 in Chicago, Honeywell unveiled new solutions and features designed to boost life safety and provide more intuitive installations. S3 series control/communicator A “virtual press conference” unveiling the announcements was kicked off by Beth Welch, manager of publi...

When it comes to protecting buildings and property, traditional methods of security—such as structural barriers, security guards, and security cameras—have their limitations.  Advanced laser scanning technology can overcome many of these limitations and provide a safe, reliable, and easy-to-use solution. Overview of laser scanning technology Laser scanning technology for building security applications utilises the time-of-flight method, in which a sensor em...

When video analytics first emerged in the security industry about a decade ago, there were high hopes it would instantly transform the landscape of video surveillance. Problem was, the technology was not mature and, in essence, was oversold as far as its capabilities. Analytics such as heat mapping, directional and license plate recognition technology have improved, lending themselves to applications beyond security and into the realm of actionable business intelligence Integra...

Suffering a breach is probably something that companies won’t admit to unless they must As the world has grown more and more interconnected through the Internet and company networks, cybercrime has grown at an alarming rate. According to the Federal Trade Commission, 783 businesses reported IT breaches in 2014, up 27.5 percent from 2013. “There were probably many more, but most go unreported,” says Kim Phan, of council with the Washington, D.C., law offices o...

Wi-Fi, real-time location tracking and security sensors are important elements of IoT solutions The tracking of people, processes and things continues to grow, and that’s good news for systems integrators, who can add these services to their arsenal of offerings and boost their levels of recurring monthly revenue (RMR). Real-time location tracking Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) are great ways to not only add security, but ope...

ESA opens the 2015 exhibit show floor with a ribbon cutting ceremony The Electronic Security Association (ESA) wrapped up ESX 2015, June 24 to 26 in Baltimore, Md., drawing integrators, manufacturers and association members from across the country to attend the annual educational, exhibits and networking event. Security integration companies Celebrating its eighth year, the show is jointly owned and sponsored by ESA and the Central Station Alarm Association (CSAA). ESX inclu...

The technological resources from the physical security sector available to prisons dealing with contraband threats are effective For those outside the security industry, the idea of prison contraband rarely extends beyond the old gag of a file inside a cake. In fact, contraband at prisons and other custodial premises is a major challenge: deterring and detecting it occupies many man-hours, and manufacturers devote much R&D activity to the problem. Contrabands in prison T...

Potential deployments of video analytics, or my own preferred term “intelligent scene analysis,” are being worked on by some of the best minds at university campuses across the United Kingdom. Later this year I will visit Kingston University whose Digital Imaging Research Centre is one of the largest computer vision groups in Europe. Violence prevention through analytical intelligence Here, I talk to Prof David Marshall of Cardiff University, who describes work...

The deputy commissioner spoke about trends and budgeting to MBA students at Cass Business School One of the main challenges for senior officers in London’s Metropolitan Police Service is to develop policing techniques that reflect changing demographics. The main demands on an officer’s time are complex cases, often involving child protection and requiring interaction with other organisations such as health services. Missing persons' cases can now be extremely compl...

Today, a number of school districts are saying no to these kinds of realistic active shooter drills In the wake of the shootings at Columbine High School in 1999 — 16 years ago — and the school shootings that have followed, we have struggled to figure out how to keep students and teachers safe during such an attack. Protective measures An approach to the problem that has grown controversial is armed assailant or active shooter drills. Six states including Arkansa...

Stowaway incidents in the last two months in the United Kingdom have dramatised the desperate nature of individual attempts to cross borders. They have also exposed the callous methods of human traffickers. Sixty-eight foreign nationals were discovered in four lorries at the port of Harwich on the south coast of England in June after the vehicles had disembarked from a Stena Line ferry entering English waters from Holland. None of the group, which included 15 children and tw...

The great increase in the amount of data is driving physical security to the cloud Physical security is migrating to the cloud — because it improves the performance of physical security technology while holding down costs. “Essentially what is happening is that physical security technologies are growing more powerful and generating more and more data,” says Steve Surfaro, business development manager and security industry liaison with Axis Communications, wh...

The nature of crime in general – and particularly types of theft – are changing. Craig Mackey, Deputy Commissioner of London’s Metropolitan Police Service, says falling rates of conventional “property” crime are being of offset by an increase in computer-related crimes. Fall in “property” crime rate Mackey stressed that there has been no “magic bullet” responsible for the pronounced fall in burglaries and other prope...

In the vast centre of the hall almost none of the randomly shaped stands display their index number I enjoy IFSEC each year, spending three days walking the halls. I do feel frustrated by the acres of "me too" products prompting a "meh" response. So often I’m left feeling the "big news" is that hype and lies are growing and continue to drown out the truth. If companies' marketing budgets were simply given over to their product development departments, we would find thing...

When asking exhibitors at IFSEC International 2015 about what drives their markets, many cite system integration as a key factor. And they want more of it. Integration as business “driving force” For example, John Davies of TDSI says customers are now seeking out system integration. “They want a solution rather than components, such as linking access control with building management systems or with an organisation’s IT network to control access to its computers,”...

Security beyond its traditional boundaries is a big theme at IFSEC 2015 The security landscape is changing. Touring exhibitors on the first day of IFSEC International in London, it seems an increasing number of vendors are offering products that go beyond what may be termed "security," offering solutions for applications such as health and safety and data collection. They are also offering more smart technology with mobile phones and tablets, and are selling smarter by tailori...

Although in many cases CCTV has been an effective investigation tool, its full potential is not being realised It’s all very well installing CCTV cameras, but to be effective users have to know what to do to make images available to the police and courts, according to detective chief inspector Mick Neville of the Metropolitan Police. Although in many cases CCTV has been an effective investigation tool, its full potential is not being realised, says Neville, who is due t...

A retail banking tipping point is fast approaching with the state-side adoption of EMV technology Banking faces a challenge: to reconcile major security concerns with improving technology in order to reflect modern, mobile technology and the self-service solutions that customers have come to expect from their non-banking retail experiences. This is probably the number one issue I discuss with my bank clients. Banks need to make the technology in their branches more automated,...

This year's IFSEC International show in London will provide a reflection of the physical security industry's rapid growth, especially in the video sector, says one industry observer who is also a speaker at the show, coming up 16-18 June. “If we look at the overall trend, it is no surprise to anyone that IP is driving the growth and the future of the security business,” says Jim McHale, managing director of research company Memoori, and a speaker at IFSEC. Secur...

Security is a big concern for local government buildings, but there are measures that can make a difference Back in August of 2013, Rockne Warren Newell, armed with a rifle and a handgun, stormed a township meeting in the Ross Township Municipal Building in Saylorsburg, Pa. Witnesses say he fired through a wall into the meeting room and then burst into the room itself, guns blazing. Three people died, and two sustained wounds before citizens attending the meeting restrained hi...

Organisations are looking for ways to maximise resources and extract value from video security investment "There’s valuable information hiding within surveillance video. Extracting it can make a security department more efficient and provide a clear return on investment to their organisation." - Dror Irani, CEO and President, BriefCam - The Video Synopsis company. Challenges of video surveillance Video surveillance systems are a blessing to security. They are also a cu...

Managed and hosted services allow users access from a variety of connected devices It’s not about hardware anymore, although quality components are a must. Now, it’s about how technology performs. For the systems integrator, there’s also an opportunity to provide essential services to keep customers connected. As with many other businesses, the security industry is being “disrupted” and influenced by the cloud. Delivering outsourced security and...

Unrealistic promises by over-enthused marketers and under-delivery by R&D departments have damaged the cause of video analytics almost since its inception. For me, the exaggeration reached its worst point when industry pundits suggested that we would soon be able to identify and alert on anomalous behaviour of the kind demonstrated by the Tsarnaev brothers in the moments before the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombings. Mainstream journalists speculated that the two Chechen broth...

The future will produce cost-effective solutions that can provide meaningful coverage of wide expansive areas The greatest trend in history will continue to change the world, and the physical security market. It’s called Moore’s Law. In accordance with Moore’s Law, our electronics have consistently doubled in speed, halved in size, or halved in price every two years for decades already. This trend means that our electronics, communications networks, data ne...

Strategic management of costs is important when considering video storage systems Costs are at issue when considering any component of a video system. Strategic management of costs is especially important when considering video storage systems because storage accounts for such a large cost component of networked systems. Gartner’s Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) As enterprise products begin to dominate the video storage market, more attention needs to be addressed to Gar...

Integrators and end users should be aware that their definition of open might differ from those of security manufacturers Much of the buzz in the industry today about open architecture is driven by the IT world, with many security-related decisions now falling on an organisation’s IT department, where true open architecture has been around for a long time. Closed systems like we’ve experienced in the security world are not just viewed as foreign to the IT world; th...

Not too long ago the idea of home automation was strictly the province of the rich and famous. With costs that soared as high as $100,000 or more, controlling HVAC, lighting, doors and security from a single source just wasn’t in the budget for Main Street America. That was then, but now is an entirely different story. The “connected home” in which smart phones and tablets serve as controllers for Internet-enabled devices has gone mainstream. Installers are still fashioning hi...