Article published in Hi-tech Security Solutions Magazine. Source: www.securitysa.com/52271n
Remote CCTV monitoring might be seen by some as a new fad on the security scene, but the strategy behind it is one that has stood the test of time. In fact, the strategy behind it predates modern policing by a few thousand years with the first police department only being organised in London by Sir Robert Peel in 1829.
For centuries before that, people in the community acted as security with watchmen placed in towers and on walls to act as early warning, or in other words, remote monitors. Modern CCTV systems exponentially extended the capabilities and reach of remote monitoring with the introduction of infrared and thermal detection capabilities as well as the element of deception with the launch of network covert cameras.
Instead of looking at the long list of advantages offered by remote monitoring, I would like to focus on the strategic use of remote monitoring as a component of private and public safety and security. The art lies in the correct implementation of remote CCTV monitoring within a greater security strategy. To get this right we need to ask ourselves two questions.