Author: dtaitano

How to Secure the Budget for a Video Surveillance Upgrade in Retail Organizations

While loss prevention is a valid reason from a security perspective, it is often much easier to get the budget signed off when colleagues from other departments can be convinced to support the proposal. Examples of cross-functional use of network video include dwell time analysis to allow store managers to alert their team when extra customer assistance is needed. The heat map function can be set up to proactively alert the staff about low-traffic in campaign areas so they can quickly rectify the situation. Lastly, people counting is useful for conversion rate and sales planning.

Optex Targets Transport Security

Next week at Transport Security Expo, Olympia, London, Optex will be exhibiting complete detection and access control solutions tailored for the transportation sector. This includes high security intrusion detection systems for perimeter protection; access control, directional analysis, and thrown object detection systems to protect controlled areas; and obstacle/people detection for railway safety applications.

Eight Measurements of the Body Can Identify Anyone on Earth

Using data from 4,000 U.S. armed services personnel, a forensic anatomist has found that people are more easily and accurately identified by their body measurements than their facial features – even through clothing. This technique would be useful for criminal and missing persons cases – and requires less data points than facial recognition to be accurate.

Motorola Solutions Helps Elgin IL Leverages Public, Private Video Assets

The Chicago-area suburb of Elgin is using Motorola Solutions’ real-time intelligence console (RIC) technology to put public and private video surveillance on a single platform that integrates with the computer-aided dispatch mapping software in the 911 center, according to city police officials. “Like most departments, we’re having issues with making sure we have appropriate staffing,” Elgin Police Chief Jeff Swoboda stated. “One of the ways we looked at creating a force multiplier was through the use of video cameras.”

Honeywell Brings Wireless Access Control to More Doors

Honeywell announced enhancements to its Pro-Watch security management system that allow integrators to cost effectively accommodate virtually any access control need through expanded support for wireless locksets and biometric readers. Pro-Watch 4.2 is now compatible with multiple biometric reader options, along with added support for several brands and types of wireless locks – including options from Allegion (AD-400 Series), Assa Abloy (Aperio Line), and Salto (Sallis and SVN) – that enable the system to protect previously hard-to-reach doors and locations.

NJ Bill Calling for Police Registry of Security Cameras Coming Into Focus

When a bad guy abducted a woman off the street in Philadelphia a few weeks ago and she was rescued when his car was located in Maryland, I marveled at the black box technology that found the vehicle. Assemblyman Ralph Caputo, D-Essex, NJ, was even more impressed with a nearby store’s video camera that recorded the entire incident and identified the car. So he crafted bill A-3843 permitting a municipality to enact an ordinance establishing a private outdoor video surveillance camera registry, requiring owners of such cameras to register them with police.

To Everyone Vying for Body Cams on All Police Officers

There is something you desperately need to remember to demand and that is a proper policy defining when a police officer must turn on their body worn camera. A lot of people don’t realize that body cams are being introduced without actual policies saying when they have to be used. They’re not constantly recording like dash cams or security cameras – they are only turned on when the police officer decides to turn it on.

2019 Industrial Security Systems Research Report

ReportsnReports.com offers “Industrial Security Systems Market by Systems (Video, RFID, Access Control, Intrusion Detection, Parking Management, Under Vehicle Inspection), End Users (SEZ, Factories, Hotels, Banks, Government), Component Service Geography – Global Forecasts to 2020”. This report presents the complete analysis and information about the industrial security systems market across the time span of six years (2014-2020). A complete analysis of the industrial security systems market for North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Rest of the World has been presented in this report.

Access Control System Trends: When Access Control Goes Wireless

If wireless solutions are not on your radar for access control installations, it’s time to take notice of this growing trend in physical security. Such solutions let integrators and end users reap the benefits of a wired system, without the cost of a hardwired system. Implementing a wireless solution often takes less time than its traditional hardwired counterpart. When retrofitting older buildings with new access control systems, wireless systems may literally be the only viable option available.

New Robotic Security Guards to Patrol Microsoft Campus

While the neighborhood isn’t exactly as dangerous as the post-apocalyptic landscape Robocop patrolled in future Detroit, Microsoft’s Silicon Valley campus is getting its own security robots.

The new, five-foot-tall bulletheaded robots, looking something between a cross from R2D2 from Star Wars and EVE from Disney’s WALL-E, are packed with scanners and cameras to keep an eye on the Microsoft campus.

ACLU Urges More Public Debate on Surveillance Technologies

The ACLU recently released a report regarding how security and surveillance cameras and recordings are beginning to erode at civil liberties. The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California recently launched a statewide campaign to ensure that public debate, oversight, and accountability precede the acquisition of surveillance technologies by law enforcement agencies. Counties and cities across California have spent in excess of $60 million on invasive surveillance technology, and only five of 90 communities studied held a public debate each time they introduced a new element, according to the ACLU report released Nov. 12.

Intelligent Video Surveillance and Agent Video Intelligence Announce Product Integration

Intelligent Video Surveillance (ISS), a leading Video Management Systems (VMS) vendor, and Agent Video Intelligence (Agent Vi), the leading global provider of open architecture video analytics software, announce the integration of ISS? SecurOS video management platform with the real-time event detection capabilities of savVi, Agent Vi?s video analytics platform. The SecurOS VMS platform is now integrated with savVi to offer comprehensive real-time event detection rules relating to the behavior/movement of people, vehicles, and objects.

NYCHA Screwed Up Application, Missed Out on Federal Funds for Security Cameras

NYCHA lost out on funding for more security cameras at housing developments because the application was bungled. NYCHA lost out on hundreds of thousands of federal dollars for security cameras because it bungled filling out the proper paperwork, the NY Daily News has learned. Early this year, the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department offered $3 million in “emergency safety and security grants” to housing authorities. More than 330 agencies nationwide applied, but NYCHA officials sent in an application that “was not complete and did not meet the minimum threshold requirements,” according to a HUD document obtained by The News.

Only One in 10 Consumers Claim to Be Familiar With Smart Home Devices

A smart thermostat is the most popular potential smart home purchase. – The Internet of Things may be a hot topic in tech circles but it appears that it’s not a popular topic of discussion in the average US household, yet. A new white paper, Smart Home Ecosystem: IoT and Consumers created and published jointly by the Consumer Electronics Association and Parks Associates shows that when it comes to smart thermostats, smartphone-operated security systems, and app-controlled lighting systems US consumers are still very much in the dark.

NetGear ProSafe 8-Port Gig PoE Switch

Joining NETGEAR’s ProSafe family of smart switch with high performance and cost efficiency, this 10-port Gigabit smart switch is packed with powerful features capable of enhancing any type of business network. The GS110TP is designed for customers who need a low port density solution with the combination of Gigabit speed and PoE capability.

License Plate Recognition Software Integration Solution

A software firm has developed an Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR; a.k.a LPR; a.k.a. ANPR) application that can run on Samsung Techwin’s Open Platform WiseNetIII cameras and domes. The firm is Arteco, the Italian maker of Video Event Management software (VEMS). The company’s ALPR application has been developed for access control purposes, such as use in airports, sea ports, car parks, distribution centers, industrial parks, and critical infrastructure environments where there is a need for control of the movement of vehicles.

Swann Bets Home Security Trumps Automation in the Internet of Things

he Swann security system supports its own hardware, but also third-party products such as the Philips Hue Lighting system and the Nest thermostat (as well as its own). When the chief executive of Swann Security popped into see the chief technology officer a year or two ago, the resulting conversation changed the strategic direction of the company.

Swann sold security cameras and other sensors through retailers such as Harvey Norman and Dick Smith. It was a good business that was enjoying a period of sustained growth.