The Great Outdoors

Wireless surveillance provides liability protection, safe passage in outdoor environments without breaking the bank.

• By John Graham
• Oct 01, 2012

Outdoor perimeters are a challenge to secure, period. Why, you ask? Quite simply, these areas vary greatly in size, geographic make-up and location, and they cannot be ignored because they serve as access points to retail locations, corporate offices and municipal properties, among others. As with indoor environments, it is a property owner’s responsibility to provide security controls to manage and monitor potential issues. If a business fails to provide the tools needed to maintain safety, it could be liable if an on-site incident occurs and property is damaged or an individual is injured. Therefore, providing surveillance coverage of these areas not only enhances security but is useful in gathering evidence to manage liability issues. By expanding the use of surveillance around business and city perimeters, business owners can mitigate losses, speed up investigations and limit liability. For example, if an employee reports he injured himself near the loading dock due to unsafe work conditions, investigators can use surveillance data to determine what actually happened.

From legal and safety perspectives, it makes perfect sense to increase the coverage of a surveillance network to cover perimeters, but deploying a surveillance system in outdoor or remote areas once came with exorbitant costs due to the trenching, power and cabling requirements needed to install a system in these locations. But those costs are now a thing of the past.

New IP-based surveillance solutions leverage advanced wireless protocols and solar power to allow property owners to extend the reach of their surveillance system without the expense. Innovations in wireless enable the delivery of fully self-contained wireless video cameras that allow for placement anywhere because the devices are, by definition, not constrained by wires or cables. These systems incorporate directional antennas for reliable and long-range operation. Many also support 3G/4G networks to maximize system uptime in case of a network failure.

Video surveillance plays an important role in monitoring activity, reducing crime and optimizing operations in outdoor environments. The integration of wireless, outdoor surveillance cameras enables property owners and security teams to gather detailed data on an incident while providing personnel with the ability to make an assessment of a situation in real time to determine the appropriate response.

Outdoor surveillance systems act as a significant deterrent to criminals and provide reassurance to customers and employees. A wireless surveillance system cultivates a more secure environment at a cost much less than found with traditional security camera systems. At the end of the day, it is an owner’s responsibility to provide a safe and secure environment to protect brand identity, limit safety concerns and mitigate liability.

This article originally appeared in the October 2012 issue of Security Today.