Anand Chakravarti Area Vice President – MEA and APAC, Pivot3 Current Practices, Priorities & Purchase Drivers Video surveillance is a fact of modern day life and an integral part of most security operations. In developed areas, video surveillance seems so ubiquitous that it can almost be surprising when there is no video record that relates to an event of interest. From the first use of closed caption video – Germany capturing the firing of V-2 rockets during World War II – to today’s mobile, tiny drone cameras, the steady and staggering march of technology has seen the use and purpose of video surveillance changing over the years. What started as live monitoring evolved as systems, and storage solutions has evolved to be as much, if not more, about investigations where captured footage was analyzed for clues or proof. The potential of artificial intelligence enhances both live-monitoring and investigative purposes of video surveillance, and the market for video surveillance equipment continues its steep slope upward. Technology research firm IHS Markit estimated 10 million surveillance cameras were shipped in 2006. The number of new cameras shipped topped 100 million in 2016 and was more than 130 million in 2018. In this environment, Security Management magazine, together with Pivot3, a leading provider of intelligent infrastructure solutions for video surveillance, surveyed the security sector to gain an understanding of the current practice and trends in video surveillance. Purpose for recording surveillance video Deterring crime, forensic investigation and operational monitoring were all cited heavily as reasons to record video surveillance, with improving customer service not seen by most security professionals as a reason. Many of the reasons given when respondents chose ‘other’ can be seen as specialized cases of the broader categories. For example, a few cited safeguarding their employees or something similar, which could fall under deterring crime; others cited post-incident evidence, which could fall under forensic investigation. Another category cited often was compliance with standards or regulations. In a post-survey interview, Steve Lindsey, Senior Director, Corporate Security at the University of Phoenix who previously worked in security for Walmart, noted that video surveillance was a tool primarily for deterring crime and forensic investigation. “We have a number of cameras that are designed to capture individuals coming in the main doors, in high-traffic areas, and some high-value target areas such as data closets. With the exception of guard staff monitoring video of parking areas, there’s not a lot of active monitoring. Video is used to investigate a wide variety of claims from accidents to theft to access areas. If something happens, you go back to the video and it helps to fill out the story of what happened,” commented Steve. At the large agricultural products and services company Cargill, which has hundreds of locations throughout the world, video is increasingly used for operational monitoring according to Global Asset Security Manager Joel Martin. He said, “We’re seeing a convergence of physical security and operations. For example, we’re working to develop an algorithm where the camera will detect if someone is not wearing a yellow safety vest in a certain area, and once detected it sends a signal to a loudspeaker that will alert the person that a safety vest is required while in the area.” When cross-tabulating the purposes cited for recording video surveillance with organizational and individual demographics – deterring crime, forensics and operational monitoring remained the top reasons across all segments – at remarkably similar totals to the overall results. In a few segments, the percentage which cited improving customer service rose above 50 percent – including C-suite responders (53%) as well as those in the healthcare (49%), and sports and entertainment (51%) sectors. The importance of video to the organization As the purpose and use of video expand beyond original intents, the number of cameras an organization employs has exploded. A single building may have dozens or hundreds of cameras. Inevitably, there are times when cameras go down for technical or mechanical reasons. This downtime has an effect on an organization’s ability to do things like conduct thorough investigations or monitor operations. Respondents to the survey were equally split – half saying video surveillance downtime had a major impact, and half saying it had only a minor impact. However, digging into those numbers, those who know the most about how video is used in an organization tell a different story. More than 90 percent of end users who are involved in the purchasing of video surveillance equipment said that downtime has a major impact on their organizations. “Cameras being down can be very serious,” said Cargill’s Martin, “We have so many operations tied to video surveillance in certain plants that if the cameras are down for more than two hours we have to shut the plant down.” The Univeristy of Phoenix’s Lindsey said, “It’s a kind of Murphy’s Law. If you’re trying to investigate something, it’s bound to happen when the cameras were down. So you have to be really vigilant in minimizing your downtime.” He also noted there are potential legal issues, as well. “Once deployed, there is the expectation that they are operational. Failure to repair them when they need it suggests negligence on your part,” he added. Of End Users Who Say Video Downtime Has a Major Impact One director of security at a large Texas health system with thousands of cameras noted that having operational cameras is considered mission critical. “Once a week we check every camera. If it’s down, we put a ticket on it to get it repaired or replaced. If it’s down, we have to shroud it. It’s a constant issue. We were an early adopter of camera systems, so we have some older systems in some buildings, some of them still running on DVRs. It can be hard to get doctors’ offices to pay to replace cameras, so we wait for failures and stick NVRs into them when they do.” Video surveillance priorities Survey respondents were asked to select up to three top…
