Today, businesses both large and small have the ability to stay ahead of criminal activity with advanced video monitoring systems. From gas stations and convenience stores to police departments and high-tech corporations, video monitoring systems are employed to keep a watchful eye on employees and the public, to ensure their safety and your business’s security.

Benefits of Video Monitoring

Whether your business is large or small, video monitoring provides benefits that are invaluable to the safety and security of your employees and operations. Common concerns against video monitoring systems include displaying a lack of faith in employees, being an invasion of privacy, or simply costing too much.

However, consider the following benefits these systems can provide before making your decision:

• Improved Security: Criminals can be deterred in some cases by the mere sight of security cameras. In the event an incident happens, security cameras provide physical proof (i.e. for police pressing charges and insurance providers determining financial losses) of the criminal activity.
• Improved Productivity: Managers and business owners can track the productivity of their employees, even when they are physically absent from a location.
• Cost-Effective: Though the technology behind video surveillance seems expensive, it is more cost-effective than employing multiple security personnel on a full-time basis or dealing with the results of criminal activity that may occur due to the absence of surveillance.
• Flexible and Scalable: Digital video surveillance systems can be as complicated or as simple as needed. For smaller locations, one camera with sound and high quality audio might be enough. Other businesses might require night vision cameras, high quality cameras and remote access to footage. Whatever your business needs, a system can be designed to match.

Value in the Legal System

One of the primary reasons for installing a video monitoring system is crime prevention and prosecution. It is difficult to protect your business at every location, at all times, which is why the right monitoring system is crucial. A good system should be able to capture high quality video and audio, synced together properly and be stored safely on a remotely accessible hard drive.

The Robbinsdale Police Department Offers Proof

The Robbinsdale Police Department (RPD) serves a community of 14,500 people northwest of downtown Minneapolis, MN. Beginning in the late 1990s the RPD began installing video surveillance around the precinct including interrogation rooms, booking areas, the lobby and outside parking lots.

However, RPD found that it was frequently running into problems with the video and audio sync in its surveillance system. This led to legal concerns that video evidence had been tampered with. The solution for RPD was a modern video monitoring system capable of high quality, two-way audio recording with digital video recording (DVR) backup, with the capability to store countless hours of surveillance footage. When it comes to monitoring systems, court cases can be won and lost based upon the accuracy and reliability of your footage.

Ideal Video Monitoring Systems

Reliable surveillance systems will offer a variety of tools to provide security, including:

• DVR Storage: A DVR system ensures footage is never lost and can be quickly accessed; they are scalable and offer the option to record at the same time as live feeds.
• Digital Networking: Allows for footage to be compressed and stored digitally in multiple locations.
• Video Management Software: Allows managers and security to keep an eye on live footage from various locations at the same time and access footage remotely.
• Video Analytics: What the human eye might miss watching footage, video analytics software can capture. Software can be programmed to detect certain movements or behaviors in specific places and alert security personnel to suspicious activities and behaviors.

Practical Uses

The need for reliable video monitoring goes beyond the needs of police departments and Fortune 500 companies. Small business owners can keep an eye on their employees when they aren’t around to ensure productivity remains high and their safety is assured. Managers can use surveillance to track record and bookkeeping practices to combat fraud, while retailers can use surveillance to fight crimes such as shoplifting.

Consult with a Digital Video Surveillance specialist to determine the surveillance needs of your business and identify which video monitoring system is right for you.