1. Trends
The Enhanced Video Alarm
Meets the Bottom Line
A
s we approach the 2010 ISC West Annual fered more than $2 million in copper wire theft. They added
Show and Conference in Las Vegas, here is a a cordless PIR detector with a camera. Once the motion
trend that we can all understand and apply to occurred the monitor in the central station alerted the officer
improve security while reducing operational to “LOOK” and the officer was able to “VERIFY” an intrusion
costs. And the trend is one that is happening and dispatch officers, who also have the opportunity to see live
every day in our lives. It is video applied for situational aware- video using mobile devices. The same video was distributed to
ness resulting in event prevention. both private officers and local police who converged to arrest
Video married with connectivity the intruders before more damage could be inflicted on these
has created a new communication expensive building management systems (Please see “Can
form. But the magic is that instead Copper Theft Be Prevented?” at www.securitymagazine.com).
of posting video as an archive, ana- Enhanced Video Alarm Systems offer near immediate reso-
lytics will provide verification and lution to the threat and indicates the appropriate response or
alert officers regarding the appro- lack there of. While connecting the dots seems simple, in many
priate action required to respond to cases your system integration partner, monitoring company (or
an event. department), IT department and mobile device provider need
Indeed, we are close to attach- to be brought together for maximum effect. A shining example
ing the video archive versus a text is Sunoco’s A+ Stores application led by Bob Moraca. Sunoco’s
document to substantiate an inves- EOC includes a retail intervention system featuring electronic
tigative report. While archiving first responders who can observe in store activity and inter-
is currently 99.9 percent of video vene. More than 10,000 retail employees are trained on the
By Mark McCourt applications, we are moving toward systems and the use of remote panic pendants. The electronic
live video use as an awareness and first responder system enables corporate security officers to
prevention tool. Leading security come on over the audio system and announce their presence.
organizations have the potential to gain situational awareness It also enables preventative response through enhanced situ-
through video communication in a more effective and efficient ational awareness.
manner than voice or text. And distributed video to an offi- At the upcoming ISC West Show, leading technology com-
cer’s handheld, police and/or fire station brings the essential panies will demonstrate the integration of video, analytics and
information and the critical element of speed to the equation. communication that result in priority response, situational
Add analytics to alert us to activity and improved situational awareness and greater security. And that can be directly tied to
awareness, and a new solution is available that brings together the bottom line for improved performance.
a long-term investment in video, access controls, officer train-
ing and best public/private projects.
Think about the possibilities. Video Alarms are real and
becoming more economically viable with each technology
turn. Best of all, they are focused on preventing an upcoming
or occurring event, driving the value of your investment expo- Gotta Run….
nentially skyward. Please join me at The Security 5K to benefit Mission 500.
As you know, the tragedies at Columbine and Virginia This 5K road race will be held on the second day of the
Tech were in part due to no situational awareness for ISC West 2010 convention in Las Vegas from 7:30-8:30
the responding officers. In both cases, police entered the
am, with proceeds generated by the race to be contributed
to Mission 500. Mission 500’s goal is to get the security
facilities after the shooters had taken their own lives and
industry to sponsor 500 children (and more) through the
the shooting had stopped. While it is impossible to fully
World Vision charitable organization. Runners will be able
understand what impact a video alarm system implementa- to register with a nominal $30 fee and these funds will all
tion might have had in saving lives, such a system could only go to charity. Find out more at www.mission500.org.
have helped authorities.
Enhanced Video Alarms bring greater value to the industry
as Law Enforcement delivers higher priority response to video
alarms. The Boston Police Department recently created a new
dispatch code for video alarms, just under a crime-in-progress.
Police respond faster to a video alarm and this means more
apprehensions and a more secure community. This is some-
thing that we can sell.
One recent example has been tied to copper wire theft. As
documented in recent case studies in this magazine, ATT suf-
12 March 2010 ■ SECURITY ■ SECURITYMAGAZINE.COM