5 Tips to Avoid Blind Spots & Get Better Security Camera Coverage Area
In 2007, the Toronto Police spent $2 million to install 21 security cameras in the downtown core to help deter crime. This initiative was aimed to reduce break-ins and overall crime rates in the city, and to help catch the culprits if a crime occurred.
Securing your business from external threats is a concern most businesses have, and CCTV security systems are a viable solution to help you protect your business.
It’s not as simple as installing CCTV systems, however: you have to ensure that you choose the most suitable security solutions for your business.
- How many cameras do you need onsite?
- Where will these be located to ensure the most accurate perimeter for your business?
Regardless of how many cameras you may have onsite at your business, sometimes it is difficult avoiding blind spots or getting the clearest footage. Effective perimeter security is a difficult task and is not determined by how many cameras you have.
Other factors such as where the camera is located, the angle, and or measure detection range, must be considered when determining how to ensure the accuracy of your CCTV systems.
CCTV does not always guarantee a conviction. What CCTV systems do is provide security personal monitoring surveillance systems to take immediate action in case of a security threat. To make their jobs easier and to protect your business, we’ve highlighted key points as to how to protect your perimeter and how to avoid blind spots with your CCTV systems.
How to Avoid Any Possible Blind Spots With Your Security Camera Coverage
A blind spot refers to the areas that aren’t in the peripheral vision of the installed camera. Since all cameras have limited range, all areas may not be monitored.
Every security camera will have a blind spot but in order to successfully cover as much ground as possible, CCTV security systems must be designed with a ‘zero blind spot’ capability. This is determined by where the cameras are located. Ideally, each camera’s view must overlap with the blind spot of the camera located closest to it to ensure optimal coverage.
A practical example of effective CCTV coverage occurs within a mall in Toronto, where 73% of the cameras are not visible to shoppers, yet they’re situated closely enough together to ensure every corner of their businesses are covered. Whether your camera is indoors or outdoors, it’s important to situate each camera to avoid any blind spots in the perimeter you are covering.
Consider the Following When You’re Avoiding CCTV Blind Spots
- Review the building plan and put in the ideal locations you need to install a camera. Consider the distance and detection range of each specific surveillance zone. It is best to locate your camera as close to the surveillance area first and then choose how much zoom you need.Tip: Consult the experts and ask what kind of lens or camera works best for your floor plan to avoid as many blind spots as you can with camera placement and range of each individual camera.
- Take photos of the areas you want to cover from the proposed camera locations to understand the field of view or area of surveillance. This will help you determine what lens you need, how far away to place the camera, and how wide the viewing area is.
- Determine what you’re aiming to capture with each camera to figure out what type of camera you’ll need. This will help you determine the camera resolution.Are you going to place this camera indoors to capture a person’s face or are you looking to get a clear image for a car license plate outdoors? Each camera location will determine what you need to maximize your surveillance potential, avoid blind spots and ensure clear footage.
- Is there potential for vandalism with your indoor or outdoor security systems? Will your camera be susceptible to damage if an intruder can access it and block the camera’s view to obstruct the footage? Vandal-proof cameras are an option if your cameras are likely to be vandalised.
- Consider lighting in the area that your cameras will cover. Is the space bright or dimly lit? Are the lights turned off at night? Will you need additional lighting to ensure that the images aren’t dark and so you can see what is going on? Do you need infrared CCTV cameras?
Be Sure to Consider Nature and External Intrusions Into Your Digital Security Camera Coverage
With outdoor CCTV systems, movement and external forces can contribute to blind spots when covering a certain perimeter. Movement from wind, trees or an object blowing into your camera’s peripheral may hinder the clarity of footage and help intruders take advantage of blind spots.
Furthermore, these types of movements or false intrusions may trigger alarms, but fortunately, CCTV security systems can now filter through images and determine real threats from just natural movement or forces. An alarm won’t be triggered simply if a plastic bag flies too close to your CCTV system.
Similarly, it’s important to pay attention to camera angles and location in regards to nature. Is the sunlight directly hitting your camera lens or is there an object that can obstruct the camera’s vision and result in blind spots resulting from natural sources. These factors must be routinely checked due to natural environmental changes.
An example of this may involve a CCTV system being installed near a tree, whereby its branches grow out and block the camera’s view. It is important to be vigilant and keep nature in mind when it comes to outdoor CCTV systems.
In order to maintain your camera, the lens, and overall dependability of your footage, your outdoor CCTV cameras must be durable enough to stand up to humidity, sand, dust and harsh temperatures. These natural intrusions can obviously affect your camera, as well as the quality of the images and footage.
Extreme temperatures or stark changes in temperature can allow dust or humidity to invade a camera’s housing and negatively affect the lens. If your lens is clouded or dirty as a result of natural intrusions, it’s almost as good as not having a camera at all because your footage won’t be reliable or clear.
Maintaining your equipment and ensuring that it is durable and sturdy enough to withstand these external forces is just as important to help ensure high quality footage.
While these are all crucial considerations and questions to ask yourself when determining the best security solutions for your business, it can be difficult to reach a conclusion about what works best for your business.
If you’re looking for security experts who can advise you along the way and ensure all your grounds are covered, contact Logixx to learn about the best solutions to help avoid blind spots with your security systems.
Our experts offer a free consultation about the features of security systems in the GTA and across Canada that will suit your business’ specific security requirements.