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Most Avoidable Surveillance Mistakes For Retailers

By Jon Benowitz on January 25, 2014 in Surveillance Mistakes
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There are many things that need to be taken into consideration when you are looking at setting up your surveillance and video cameras to provide security to your place of business.  Security cameras are some of the most important tools in the protection of a business, and it is as critical that you follow good practices when arranging them, as it is that you invest in them to begin with.  The proper set up of surveillance cameras will directly affect how effective they are for your business.  Not only are surveillance cameras a deterrent for potential burglaries, but they also help to catch these burglaries and can help ensure that justice is brought to the thiefs.  You need to make sure that you are properly evaluating all available options and have a good idea of how you can benefit your business in the long-term by avoiding some of the popular surveillance mistakes that individuals make when they are setting up their system.  The best way to go about setting up your surveillance cameras is to ensure that you have maximum effectiveness and are able to better take care of yourself;

Not Conducting Proper Installation Research

The biggest mistake that a company can make before installing video surveillance is not ensuring that you conduct proper research.  Knowing how to properly set up the camera layout, and knowing how to create a secure perimeter with those cameras is the most important aspect of your research.  You need to consider placement, the detection zone and blind zones all need to be taken into account prior to making a final decision.  There are a number of different dependent variables and every set up needs to be researched in order to ensure that you are able to maximize effectiveness.  Changing one small variable could impact others as well.  You need to make sure that you properly learn how to go about setting up your video surveillance to ensure that all areas of the business are covered, and there are minimal blind spots for your investment.  Not conducting proper research on setting up surveillance cameras will limit your effectiveness, and could lead to inaccuracies that make it difficult for you to provide top-notch surveillance for your business.

Surveillance Is Not Filmmaking

It is also important to remember when setting up your surveillance equipment that you are not a filmmaker.  Your goal should not attempt to get the most interesting shots, and instead you need to place your main focus on security.  Two thirds of the scene should be ground and subject, and only one third of the scene is saved for skyline, if you were paying attention in photography class.  This is just simply not true with security cameras.  Viewing the sky with security cameras has almost zero value in most situations, and should be focused on looking at the ground.  You do not want to waste 33% of the video storage on a blank skyline, and instead should look to make sure that you are covering as much ground within your business as possible.

Not Covering All Security Bases

Although you may feel like you know where all of the security risks in your building are, that does not mean that you should not attempt to cover all of your bases as well.  You will be able to cover all of your bases by making sure that every square inch of your building is completely covered by security surveillance cameras.  For this reason, there are many things that must be taken into consideration when you are looking at the placement of these cameras.  Placing cameras in the corner of a room, so that it can cover the entirety of the room is a great idea, but not if you were going to overlook coverage for the entrances and exits to the room.  It is important that you are able to cover all of your bases so that you can make a smart decision regarding the placement of your cameras, ensuring that most security risks are avoided.

Surveillance Pixel Dilution

There are many things that must be taken into consideration when you are considering the layout of your security cameras.  One often overlooked fact is the fact that pixel dilution is a very serious problem in many security setups.  The farther away objects are, the more diluted the pixels become.  This issue was mostly seen when setting up the scene and opening up the cameras FOV as wide as a can be accommodated by the lens.  It is important that you study the different settings that you can place on the camera in order to give yourself the best shot for your situation, not only ensuring that you are able to see all parts of the room clearly, but also doing so in a way that will help you to rapidly improve your overall security.

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