CCTV CORNER
Consistency of Design
By Charlie Pierce D
efining consistency of design would seem an easy measure in any medium. With CCTV it has been defined by idealisms, such as using the same equipment in every cir- cumstance. Familiar tactics and approaches as to what image is required and what equipment will produce the needed results become second hand. With the market in a seemingly end- less flux of new technology, the safest method of business is most often ac- complished by treading on the path of known results. Integrators and national contractors are satisfied with established purchasing power and volume discounts attributed to working with the same vendors over and over. Efforts have been made over the past 50 years to cre- ate “cookie cutter” designs. The problem is that intercommunications between sites or corporate entities were limited or non-existent for the first 40 of those years. However, consistency of design does not purport a “cookie cutter” solution, but rather a flexible, detailed overview that encompasses all facets of a solution at multiple levels. If you are working to
design a simple or complex system at a single location with a new or existing client, do you interview or review what tactics, equipment or requirements were used at associated sites? If not, have you just created a new format of response that may not flow with or be compatible with existing structures?
I had a client that on a local basis de- cided that a specific area was to be ignored visually. This was against my ad- vice as based upon defined national recommendations for proper visual sup- port. Additionally, I had pointed out that three of the seven associated branches had visually secured the same area that I was recommending. The cutbacks were done as much for budgetary reasons as for local management inclinations that the area was not important enough to warrant visual monitoring. Six weeks after the system was installed and opera- tional, two associated branches of the clients were physically attacked (with small, timed detonations) in the same area of concern. Because of the lack of after-the-fact visual support, the perpe- trator(s) were not found or identified via the visual support system (i.e., CCTV).
TAKING A COOKIE-CUTTER APPROACH TO THE DEPLOYMENT OF A VIDEO SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM IS BOUND TO FAIL, ULTIMATELY LEADING TO POOR SECURITY, DANGEROUS SITUATIONS AND UNHAPPY CUSTOMERS
Immediately, corporate level man- agement became involved to identify what, if anything, could be done to prevent similar attacks in the future, as well as what was already in place at any/all of their branches. After a few weeks of review it was determined that the overall inconsistencies of local designs and system structures prevented the corporate office from being able to properly support the in- dividual branches. Equally important, the fragmented structure of branch security prevented a single solution from being implemented at a corpo- rate level without the expenditure of additional tens of thousands of dol- lars. The net cause — too many independent, singular thinking secu- rity providers.
The sad part was that a single na- tional integrator had been used at five of the seven local sites and there was no consistency between their assigned branches. Placement of equipment, communication structure, response, recording rates and compression factors; none of it was consistent from site to site even though a single integrator had won the contract.
Charlie Pierce is president of Leapfrog Training & Consulting (
www.ltctrain-
ingcntr.com), which provides a wide-range of services, including live seminars, plain language
technical manuals, self-administered DVD training programs, certification testing programs, PDF program down- loads, Internet based training classes and webinars, generic CCTV product sup- port, and Internet informational sites.
26 SECURITY PRODUCTS CANADA| Fall 2011
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