Out of every 100,000 United States residents, almost 362 people were arrested in 2018 for property offenses. Given that there were almost 2,200 property offenses per 100,000 residents, people who commit such crimes are more likely to get away with it than be arrested. Five in every six criminals escape detection.

Is having your property broken into your worst nightmare? Read on to learn about six unique ways to protect your property with remote surveillance.

What is Remote Surveillance?

Remote surveillance is an effective way to protect your property and physical assets from damage, theft and other risks. It doesn’t rely on your presence to deter criminals or on the presence of expensive security guards. It quietly does its job, safeguarding your property.

A remote surveillance system can consist of several different pieces of equipment and security systems. The system can include sensors and/or cameras in strategic locations on your property. These devices communicate either by cable or wireless connection to monitors.

Monitoring can consist of recording equipment that you can check in the event that an incident occurs. The recording is typically in the form of digital files that you can view on a computer screen.

It’s easy to freeze-frame an image of an intruder or their vehicle. The image can then be saved as a screenshot for presentation to law enforcement authorities.

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A more sophisticated approach is to have the sensors and cameras connected to a live monitor. This can be as simple as a video feed to your smartphone. Alternatively, the live feed can be monitored by on-site or off-site security personnel.

There are many options for how you respond to an intruder at this point. This is the opportunity for some very creative and unique ways to protect your property.

1. Around the Clock Protection

An especially exciting aspect of remote surveillance is the ability to provide protection around the clock. Twenty-four-hour, 365 days year-round protection is very realistic.

The sight of physical cameras may be enough to deter many potential break-ins. Criminals are more likely to avoid properties where there are signs of security measures and look for easier targets. As there are likely to be alternative properties with no cameras or visible security, just investing in some cameras, even if some of them are realistic fakes, reduces your risk of a break-in.

Some criminals are determined to carry out a break-in, even in the face of security cameras. These may be more desperate or more sophisticated criminals. Remote surveillance still offers around the clock protection.

You can’t always be present to protect your property but a camera can be. A sensor that picks up when there are intruders activates a camera and raises the alarm. This means you can respond.

2. Employee Engagement

If you have employees there are special opportunities and risks to consider.

Employees may have concerns about cameras in the workplace. They may worry that the cameras will be used to impose unreasonably tight control over them. This can lead to poor relationships, unnecessary anxiety, and reduced productivity.

Low employee productivity can be an unintended consequence of the introduction of cameras. Employees can feel that if they are being observed at their work that they will adopt a “work to rule” attitude. This slows down production rather than improves it.

There is a more positive approach that you can take that has much better consequences both for productivity and security. Involve your team in the decisions about surveillance and engage them by sharing the benefits.

The security threat to your business is one that has consequences both for you and your employees. If your business has reduced profits due to thefts or downtime due to damage, your employees’ jobs might be at risk. They have an interest in protecting the company from this threat.

Many acts of theft are carried out by employees. The so-called “inside job” is famous enough to feature in crime fiction and many a movie. The sad truth is that a criminal employee is just as likely to steal from other employees as from their employer and so employees are being protected if this criminal is discovered.

For these reasons, employees can be engaged in the mutual benefit of fighting crime in the workplace. But, that still leaves the concern that they may have about being monitored. The best way to resolve this is to involve employees in sighting cameras and sensors so that it is clear that this is a security measure and not a work performance one.

An additional benefit is that employees can spread the word that there is a state-of-the-art security system in place. This will deter both dishonest employees and the wider community from attempting a break-in.

3. Remote Intruder Detection

Remote surveillance provides you with the means to detect an intruder, remotely. Detecting an intruder can be either be passive or active.

An example of passive intruder detection is a PIR or passive infrared sensor system. These sensors pick up any motion in their field of view. When sited in an area where there should not be any movement they can activate an alarm, lights or a camera.

A passive intruder detection system doesn’t have to be manned. It can operate without any intelligence, simply reacting to any movement. Even turning a floodlight on when motion is detected can be enough to send an intruder scurrying away fearing discovery.

A more active intruder detection approach can be very effectively operated remotely. A property can be monitored remotely by cameras. This can replicate the activity of a guard walking around your premises looking for any unusual activity.

A guard might lookout for changes as a sign that an intruder is present or has been present. Broken windows, open exterior doors or objects that have been moved are all signs of entry by a criminal intruder. All of these things can be detected by a camera.

The camera footage can be viewed live by a remote camera operator covering multiple sites much more effectively than a guard could do on foot. The camera operator can make many more sweeps of the property and do it much more cheaply than a whole team of guards.

As technology develops and becomes ever cheaper remote camera operation will become even more flexible. It’s likely that drones, fitted with cameras will feature as part of the range of security camera options available. Intruders can then be detected and perhaps even pursued, remotely.

4. Verification by Camera

When an alarm is triggered it’s not always certain that there has been an entry to your premises by an unauthorized intruder. Calling in security personnel to visit the premises or indeed calling for the police can be expensive not to say embarrassing if the intruder turns out to be the office cat or an enthusiastic employee doing some extra work.

Cameras can do important work verifying the cause of an alarm. This is much cheaper and more convenient than visiting the property in the middle of the night or at the weekend to carry out a nervous inspection. Using a dedicated remote camera operator to check the scene before further action is much better.

The verification process need not even be that sophisticated. You can have an app on your smartphone that will allow you to check what your cameras are trained on. You can use this to check whether there is indeed an intruder or if it is a false alarm and you need to reset the system.

5. Response to Intrusion

Once you have verified that you do have an intruder you can then respond to this intrusion. There are several features of remote surveillance systems that you might like.

The most obvious action you can take is to call for the police to respond. If you are fortunate the police may be able to react quickly and apprehend the intruder. It’s possible that they won’t have the resources to do this or that they do respond but too slowly to apprehend the perpetrator.

How can a remote surveillance system help if the police are not able to support you as you would like them to? A remote surveillance system can capture evidence of the intrusion. This could include images that help identify the intruder or their vehicle.

If the police do apprehend the intruder immediately or later, they will need evidence to support a prosecution. Your video evidence may be useful.

6. Words of Warning

An interesting feature of remote surveillance systems is the capability to receive a signal but also to send one. Nothing can be more disconcerting to an intruder than to hear the voice of a remote camera operator telling them that they have been observed. It is even more impactful when the operator can describe exactly what the intruder is doing.

This feature can be used to tell the intruder that the police are near to them and that they should make themselves available for a non-violent arrest.

Be Secure

A remote surveillance system can provide you with many unique security features. It’s economic and effective. Be secure in the knowledge that you have an advantage in the fight against crime.

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