The importance of having a professionally designed specification is underlined by the fact that when police gather CCTV evidence, it is often found to be of no benefit, due to the quality of the pictures and/or resolution provided.
While it is true that almost anyone can look at a location and suggest a number of cameras, only those who have experience in this field, through an understanding of the principles of optical science, will be able to recommend cameras that will provide the best definition/coverage.
Often it is also possible to provide clients with “added value” by locating Cameras, and utilising lenses which are able, not only to view the area of concern, but also give peripheral vision of other points of interest.
During a visit to a school we discovered that cameras were installed at each end of a number of 30m corridors. Each camera had a lens that was providing facial recognition for the first 3.5m of corridor (we find that this is often the case with school and office systems we audit). If, beyond the first 3.5m, a pupil came out of classroom, committed a misdemeanour and then returned to the classroom there was no possibility of knowing who they were. By setting the cameras to view the opposite end of the corridor, and the careful choice of lenses, each camera could have provided facial recognition for half of the corridor, enabling with just two cameras, the whole corridor to be viewed with pupils being recognised. Instead of having recognition for 7m, all 30m could have been properly viewed, providing a 428% increase in effectiveness. This is just one of many examples of the difference made, and the benefits achieved, when a system is designed correctly.
Our experience, as CCTV Consultants, is that in the vast majority of cases installation companies are simply installing cameras and pointing them in the general direction required. With little or no understanding of optical science, systems are repeatedly installed which fail to provide the necessary levels of facial recognition.
See also: Purchasing CCTV
