HowToSurveillance Blog

Article from the UK Telegraph about the 40,000 high definition “Eagle Eye” surveillance cameras that that have been installed in Xinjiang province:
Full UK Telegraph Article Here

The city of Mesa, Arizona will be voting in September, 2010 on a law to require surveillance camera systems at convenience stores. Story and video here:
Security Camera Law Proposed in Mesa, AZ

Here’s an interesting news story regarding spy gadgets available to the general public:

Spy Gadgets Video

Seems like you can put a camera just about anywhere these days. The video also showcases some electronic counter-surveillance devices.

The number of surveillance cameras will be increasing in response to terrorist threats. Watch this CBS News story for details:

CBS News Video: Surveillance Camera Coverage to Increase in New York City

Brownstone Security is proud to introduce new license plate capturing day and night security camera BTS-MIR83122HQDN.
License Plate Capture Camera has 8 manual shutter speed control, and according to your needs, the shutter can be adjusted to auto or manual electronic shutters. The speed range of the camera is from 1/50 sec to 1/100,000 sec, so this can achieve reliable license plate recognition. Adopting with SONY HQ1 DSP and Exview HAD CCD the resolution hits 540 TV lines, with 0.05 LUX. It also has a built-in Mechanical IR Cut Filter; the cameras can automatically switch from Color to B/W mode, when the illumination is under 2 Lux.
This security camera can be easily added to existing surveillance systems and can be integrated with Brownstone’s MSGV Series license plate recognition system.
Brownstone Security provides a variety of cameras and DVRs, serving retail, hospitality, manufacturing, commercial, industrial, healthcare, and government industries. If you would like additional information or a demo, please call 310-297-3605 or visit:
www.brownstoneps.com

Law suits arising related to school laptops equipped with webcams. Internet protocol (IP) enabled webcams allow remote viewing of a webcam and may push the frontiers of surveillance law:

CNN Article on School Laptop Webcam Spying

The huge budget deficit in the City of Phoenix, Arizona is now impacting public safety as some 350 police officers and 144 firefighters are set to be laid off. Municipalities across the country are dealing with the budget cutbacks due to revenue declines in the wake of the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression. However, the budget problems in Phoenix are especially severe resulting in the first layoff of police officers in the history of the city.

The Phoenix metro area has been hit especially hard by the mortgage downturn (one of the top 5 worst areas in the U.S. for foreclosures) and the ripple effect throughout the economy has resulted in drastically lower tax revenue.

Cops laid off? That almost never happens! This is really ugly folks and will almost certainly affect response times of police officers due to the fact that fewer officers will be available to cover the same area.

If this trend continues, security camera systems may be more necessary than ever. Why? If a crime occurs at your business, officers need something to go on and video surveillance footage is very helpful. Without it, they might, at best, get a vague or indefinite suspect or vehicle description from someone who happened to witness the crime.

However, with fewer officers to pursue investigations, they will need all the help they can get, and video surveillance can provide that extra help that can make the difference in solving a crime or not.

Article and News Video on Police Layoffs from ABC 15 Here:
Phoenix Police Dept. to Lay Off Hundreds of Officers

America’s Most Wanted broadcast some video recorded by a home security camera system (recorded Oct. 2006) showing the vehicle that is possibly driven by the Northern California (Nor Cal) rapist.
Video Surveillance of Toyota linked to Nor Cal Rapist

More video stills from ATM CCTV cameras are here: Nor Cal Rapist Stills

Full Story: Nor Cal Rapist Info

Combining an alarm system with a CCTV system can provide a synergistic security solution with a ‘force-multiplier’ effect.

The security benefits of an alarm system can be enhanced with the use of a monitored video surveillance system. Alarm systems can alert security personnel to a problem (e.g. intrusion, fire etc.) and assist them in making an appropriate and rapid response. Having CCTV cameras at various locations of your business allows security personnel to quickly monitor a wide range of locations in response to an alarm trigger. This helps to cover a large area and improve the efficiency of security operations (force multiplier). Read the full article (provided by Brownstone Security) at:

Combining Alarm Systems with Video Surveillance

I found a great new online CCTV lens selection tool that provides a really quick and easy way to get an idea of the magnification and field of view for a variety of security camera lenses. It shows actual images for various focal length lenses which can really help you get an idea of the field of view and magnification of a particular focal length. This can help greatly in selecting the best focal length for your security camera. You can access the lens tool here at Apex CCTV:

Lens Comparison Tool

Of course you can also use our lens calculator at HowToSurveillance.com and we also have sample video of various focal length lenses, but I found the Apex CCTV lens tool to be very quick and easy to use.

Rob