Video Monitoring

Video Monitoring Guidelines

Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) monitoring is variously considered a panacea or waste of money. It is neither.

Monitoring of multiple cameras on a few monitors or single cameras on single monitors has drawbacks. The attention span of security personnel observing cameras while also monitoring phones and handling alarm responses has been estimated to be about 11 minutes. Even the previous research indicates an attention span of only about 20 minutes.

Monitor watching is mentally deadening. An annunciator is usually needed to alert the guard or other monitoring personnel to movement on the screen. With the improvements to dual technology motion detectors, it is now possible to screen out animals up to about 40 pounds.

The recording of activity not on an annunciator-equipped monitor allows the security company and police to review periods of recorded time for suspects in crimes discovered long after the suspect has fled.

Tapes used to record activity should not be reused for about a month. Each tape should be numbered to correspond to the day in the month it was used. For the month of February tapes 1 through 28 would be used. 31 tapes would need to be kept in stock along with a few replacement tapes in case one or more are pulled for evidence.

Degradation of tapes will occur when reused on a short cycle. Due to degradation of quality, many security tapes have proved to be worthless when used for evidence or identification. On a long cycle of reuse, the tapes may retain their quality for several years.

Digital recorders do not have the problem of media degradation. Cleaning and testing is still required for effective operation. Digital recording equipment costs more but allows for single frame printing from continuous recording.

The design of hte security monitoring office or simple mounting of the monitors is very important. Monitors too highly mounted are not looked at. A mounting position of about 15 degrees above or below the average eye level is best. An adjustable height chair can compensate for the differences in guards eye levels.

Computer monitors can be set to pop up a window with a video display to further bring to the attention of hte guard a camera that has gone into alarm. This approach intergrates multipule functions (telephones can also be controlled through the computer) to further reduce the effects of a short attention span.