Important Takeaways From The News Headline: “Police Release CCTV Footage…”

Updated on

Every now and then, you read news articles about crimes being investigated or were already resolved by the police. More often than not, the resolution of these crimes were aided by CCTV footage that was collected by the police during their investigation. Reports like these are a testament to the effectiveness of CCTV Footage surveillance systems as a tool to protect both public and private areas against individuals or groups with criminal intent.

Know more about Russia than your friends:

Get our free ebook on how the Soviet Union became Putin's Russia.

In the U.S. alone, thousands of cases of shootings, murders, homicides, missing persons, and others were resolved through the help of video footage from CCTV surveillance systems that were installed in public spaces or from dashboard cameras by police officers. An example is the case of 35-year-old African American Levar Jones, who was nearly killed by highway patrolman Sean Groubert in South Carolina in September 2014.

Based on the CCTV Footage from Groubert’s dashboard camera, Groubert shot Jones while he was getting out of his car when he was confronted by Groubert for allegedly failing to wear a seatbelt. Thanks to the video, Groubert was fired as a member of the South Carolina Highway Patrol and was also charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. He could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Another case is the alleged assault of two men by a group of attackers in a street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on a night in October 2014. Through the help of the CCTV footage and social media, three members of the group were arrested and charged with assault and conspiracy.

But, how to Choose the Right CCTV footage Storage System for Your Application?

As a homeowner, you want to ensure the security of your family and properties against various risks like assault, theft, fire, and burglary. With the above cases as proof of their effectiveness, installing a security camera is a recommended option. There are, however, several things to consider when you have already decided to install your CCTV footage system.

Let us focus on how to ensure that your system will have enough space to record and save the footage taken. This is very important because you must have a record of any incident that occurred on your property. One option you can take is to select a hard drive with a high capacity for your digital video recorder (DVR) or network video recorder (NVR). There are NVRs or DVRs in the market with up to 24 TB of internal storage capacity, but buying such high-capacity equipment can be cost prohibitive.

To save money, there are some strategies that you can use to increase your storage capacity. You can use external hard drives as a backup for your internal storage. You can also choose NVR/DVR models that allow the use of removable storage media like micro SD cards and/or thumb drives. Another technique is to configure your NVR or DVR so that it will only record when a motion is detected by the cameras. This way, you can conserve considerable space, particularly in areas where there are limited activities like your basement and garage.

Another strategy to store your CCTV Footage is through cloud storage, which is a method of saving files or data that employs a remote storage system that can be accessed online. There are several benefits of storing data in the cloud. Among them are the ability to view or access the stored videos wherever and whenever you are as long as there is Internet connectivity, bigger storage capacity than a DVR/NVR internal storage or an external storage, and better security of stored footage.

The other benefits of using cloud storage are its affordable monthly storage fees - your videos or files are not stored locally so their safety and availability are secured even if your devices are damaged or stolen, and that you can use the cloud as a backup for your internal and external drive.

Some Tips for Bolstering the Security of Your Home with CCTV Footage

Now that you have learned some things about how to effectively store your CCTV Footage, let us discuss how to increase the security of your home. When securing your home, however, do not implement excessive security measures in such a way that you cannot immediately get out of your home in case of a fire or other emergencies.

Here are some tips to improve the security of your home against criminals:

  • Install a CCTV Footage surveillance system with cameras positioned in strategic locations in your house to maximize their coverage.
  • Reinforce your sliding doors and windows through the use of sliding door and window security braces. You can also install alarms in certain windows and doors, particularly those on the ground level.
  • Ensure that your main door and outside doors are made of strong materials like metal or solid hardwood. Your strong door should be complemented with solid and efficient locks. Consider installing deadbolt locks in your doors because they are considered the best locks.
  • Regularly trim all trees and shrubs near your doors and windows to prevent criminals from using them as an aid to breaking into your home.
  • Refrain from providing vital information from unidentified telephone callers and immediately call the police when you see suspicious strangers roaming in your neighborhood.
  • You can install a wide-angle viewer or a video doorbell in your doors so that you can check who is knocking before opening your doors.
  • Avoid hiding your spare keys in “secret” places outside your house like in plant boxes as burglars and thieves are already aware of this practice. It is recommended that you give your spare keys to a trusted neighbor for safekeeping.
  • Ensure that you have sufficient lighting around your house during the night to deter burglars and thieves. You should also install motion detectors in strategic places around your house to monitor any intruder, particularly during night time.
  • Create or form an organization within your neighborhood so that you can establish a security protocol to protect yourselves against crimes.

Seeing remarkable footage of crimes on TV as police CCTV footage evidence is more than simply sensational. The smart takeaway from this is that real crimes are committed every day against innocent citizens. The good news, is that the latest CCTV equipment is inexpensive, easy to use an extremely effective. Anyone can take advantage of the benefit from having video evidence to protect them in case of crimes. If you are serious about safety for you and your family, look into the many options that are available today.

Author: Luke Lee

Product manager of ANNKE, a trusted expert in home security. Sharing security knowledge with his experience, for people who are to buy or have installed security systems for home safety, is what he always tries to carry on.

Leave a Comment