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.
About the Author
John Graham is the vice president of sales and marketing at MicroPower Technologies.