We thought we'd kick our blog off by posting a little introduction to CCTV. This is just a common knowledge post which we can revisit & expand on in future posts.
First things first, we know of CCTV but do we know what it stands for? Closed Circuit Television.
What we mean by closed circuit is:
1. An electric circuit providing an uninterrupted, endless path for the flow of current.
2. A television transmission circuit with a limited number of reception stations and no broadcast facilities [source].
In society today we usually find CCTV in places such as nightclubs, pubs or on the streets. This has caused crime to fall slightly as people who are likely to commit a crime become deterred by the fact their moves are being recorded.
CCTV plays a big part in crime & can also play a big part in helping people feel safe. People are more likely to have CCTV in their home rather than an alarm. They feel that their homes are adequately protected with only the presence of CCTV & that their would be no need for an alarm. It is probably recommended that an alarm is fitted but this just shows how much faith people put into their systems.
It hasn't always been plain sailing for this commodity, though. We find that as CCTV became more & more popular, so did protests about "big brother" & privacy. People didn't like the fact that someone was watching them, regardless of the fact that it was indeed for the general public's benefit.
Of course it hasn't really been proven that CCTV cuts crime rates but that doesn't mean you shouldn't bother. If a crime is committed & the footage is recorded, this means the police have evidence to convict the person. There are many news stories claiming that CCTV helped bring someone to justice. There will be a list of these stories at the end of this post.
There are a couple of items that make up a complete CCTV package. Firstly you need a DVR (digital video recorder) which obviously does what it says on the tin. You can fit your DVR with a hard drive & this stores the recordings for playback at a later date. This means that you can playback any material that your DVR has stored which can come in useful at a later date. We will go into different types of DVRs at some point in the upcoming months.
Secondly you obviously need cameras & these can come in all sorts of different forms. If you are looking to keep your camera hidden then you will be looking for something like a module camera which can be placed in an area & it will blend in. You can also purchase special cameras which are hidden inside smoke alarms & even disguised as sprinkler systems. As with anything like this, you are advised to read up on laws of where you can place these devices. For example it is illegal to have a camera situated inside toilets or changing rooms. We will go into laws in due course on this blog.
So there we have it, a few of the basics of CCTV. Sorry it has been such a long post but there is such a lot you can learn about this topic.
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