Remote Monitoring: How CCTV is Stronger Than Ever in 2023

Amidst increasing urbanization in many places around the world come social problems from high density populations, such as rising crime rates, in particular burglary. It is unfeasible for police to be everywhere at once, nor is it affordable for most businesses to hire a full time security crew.

CCTV has always helped cover these gaps by acting a strong deterrent against would be criminals. But with the advent of network cameras that are constantly connected to the internet, CCTV security systems now also fill a front line role of active crime prevention through their unique ability to view footage in real time.

The Basis of Traditional CCTV

Security cameras have been in use for the better part of a century to reduce crime and protect homes and businesses. They fill two main roles to do so: Deterrence, and Evidence collection.

Intruder Deterrent

Surveillance cameras have been, and still are, a very strong deterrent against crime of all sorts, including break-ins. When cameras are out in public view, especially with signs like “24/7 CCTV surveillance” indicating their presence, they act as a visual deterrent.

Potential criminals/burglars see them and are aware that their actions are being recorded. This can put many would-be intruders off as it increases their risk of getting caught.

Evidence of Crime

The deterrent factor of CCTV is largely based on the footage collected when you dive into the functionality. The cameras record hard evidence of the intruder’s movements, the damages they are responsible for, and the items they steal. This footage will later be used in police investigation and in court proceedings to aid prosecution.

The cameras also record the identity of the perpetrator such as clothes, physicality, and even facial features.

Remote Monitoring: An Active Role

Modern security cameras with network connectivity are a complete game changer for CCTV systems. Having access to the internet means the cameras can be connected to and viewed on any device. You are no longer limited by the feed only being visible from your security display on site.

Checking Camera Feeds from Anywhere

Remote monitoring allows you to view your camera feed from anywhere in the world, on basically any device. Peace of mind is now just a finger tap away on your smartphone or work computer. You can check on your house from work. You can check on your business afterhours from home. You can even monitor your property thousands of kilometers away on holiday.

Replacing Physical Security Guards

Having digital eyes in your property at all times basically eliminates the need for security guards in most cases, except for where you require armed personnel. However simply having a guard who does checks on the cameras, or periodically walks patrols around the property is no longer necessary.

Additionally, if you do have a security guard for a stronger deterrence, their abilities are now a lot more effective. By having access to the cameras from wherever they are, they can respond to intrusions a lot quicker and know exactly where they need to be.

Instant Response Time

The real power that remote monitoring gives you to fight crime without firing a single shot is the massively faster response time. Any alarms that get triggered can be checked out straight away. In a traditional system, an alarm needed to get physically verified by an on-site security guard, or by calling out a security guard by car which could take as long as 45 minutes.

With remote monitoring, as soon as you or a security monitoring station get an alert from your security system, it can be instantly checked out by loading the live camera feed. If it is a false alarm you save the cost of physically verifying it. If you see an intruder on your camera footage, you can be on the phone with law enforcement within half a minute of receiving the alarm signal.

It is this lightning fast response time that really makes remote monitored systems so effective in fighting crime, with countless criminals caught in the act thanks to this ability. This ability is also extremely useful for responding to fire alarms and preventing a full scale fire.

Modern Technology Innovations

Remote monitoring as of 2023 is not a brand new feature. Essentially available as soon as high speed internet became widespread, it has been around for over a decade. However there are even newer innovations that make it even more effective. Mostly these are to do with smart algorithms that can process the footage autonomously without human interaction.

Facial Recognition

Facial recognition is the obvious upgrade. In recent years machine learning has become extremely sophisticated. Coupled with high resolution cameras, it is now easier than ever to digitally identify a person in the view of your cameras. There are many use cases for this for both preventing crime and punishing the perpetrator.

If a person who is already known to be suspicious shows up on your camera feed, you can be alerted straight away in case your security guards don’t recognise them or spot them. Then you can act pre-emptively and get them to leave or call law enforcement before any damage is done.

After the fact, if you catch the identity of a burglar on your cameras, you can pass the footage to the police as well as spread it around your business region. Your neighbouring homes, businesses and the police can match the face to their own facial recognition database. Leading to much faster police investigations and an overall safer community.

Fire Detection

Some of the newer security cameras come with thermal sensors or infrared capability. Usually used for visibility in dark conditions, this technology is now being repurposed for fire detection. Fires are extremely hot and will show up much brighter than anything else on a thermal camera.

New cameras are being produced with fire detection being built in, activating a unique alarm. From there it can be verified by anyone watching the cameras, just as with burglars and intruders.

Car Numberplate Recognition

Working well with facial recognition is the ability to quickly spot and read car numberplates. Whilst a human may not be able to make out or recognise a car numberplate straight away, a high resolution camera can instantly read the few digits and letters. The numberplate can be coupled with a person’s existing presence or facial features as an extension of their identity.

This can be used pre-emptively just like facial recognition – if a known undesirable car shows up in view of any CCTV camera, it will instantly trigger alarm bells. Your security, staff, or the police can be ready to respond even before the person gets out and makes his way to an entry point to your property.

And just like facial recognition, the numberplate of an intruder’s car will massively help police narrow down their location and even their identity in case it isn’t a stolen vehicle.

Conclusion: CCTV as an Effective Crime Fighting Weapon

You should have massive appreciation for modern CCTV cameras if you’ve read this far. Remote monitoring makes CCTV cameras into an active front line defence for your property. No longer is it effective only after the fact, you can now catch criminals in the act thanks to blistering response times and the ability to view from anywhere in the world. Additionally, when coupled with new smart technologies such as facial recognition, security cameras become an ever present, all-watching security guard helping keep you and your people safe