Various factors should be considered before installing a CCTV. A CCTV can help deter crime, but it also has many drawbacks that you may not have thought of.
For example, the footage from a CCTV camera could be accessed by anyone on the internet who knows where to look. It is important to weigh all of these pros and cons before deciding on whether or not to install CCTV in your home or business!
Security
The most common reason for installing a CCTV in either one’s own home or business is to provide security. For example, you may want to protect your family by making sure that no one enters through an unlocked door while you are asleep. At the same time, you may also want to protect your belongings in case of theft. Installing wireless CCTV systems can provide a great deal of security as it allows you to monitor your property from anywhere. However, if installed incorrectly or used improperly, they can actually reduce security.
For example, criminals who know that there is CCTV in place may simply vandalize the cameras before committing their crime. If there are no visible cameras present outside the location, criminals may also not bother entering the area at all. Additionally, some people have also been known to use CCTV footage as evidence of their innocence in criminal cases.
What CCTV Includes
The most important part of installing a CCTV system is ensuring that the footage is only accessible by those who are authorized to view it. It can be incredibly disheartening if your CCTV feed were hacked and used as evidence of you committing a crime or leaking sensitive information. The footage from CCTV can also sometimes include sensitive information about other people, so you must ensure that the feed is only accessible by people who are authorized to view it.
Types of Cameras
There are basically three different types of cameras when it comes to choosing CCTV equipment. Fixed cameras are typically positioned in a place where they can monitor an entrance or other location in case someone enters through the area. They should be angled in a way where they only record the location that is being monitored and not other areas, which could include other people’s private information.
Mobile cameras or PTZ (pan/tilt/zoom) cameras move from one area to another to monitor multiple locations at once. Their movements can be controlled by a computer or manually depending on the type of camera. Fixed dome cameras are fixed in one location but can be slightly rotated to monitor an area. They have a slender shape which makes them much harder to spot than other types of cameras.
Mounting Location
Choosing the appropriate mounting location is very important when it comes to installing CCTV equipment. The camera should not be visible to other people who may enter the area and it should be pointing in the right direction. The camera should also not interfere with other objects such as lights, which can easily be tampered with if mounted incorrectly.
Budget
Before deciding on whether or not you want to install a CCTV at your home or business, you must consider the costs involved. This includes the initial cost of purchasing all of the equipment, installation costs, monthly or yearly fees associated with renting storage space for your CCTV footage, and other expenses that may be involved. As for the actual price you must pay to install a CCTV system in your home or business, this varies depending on several factors such as whether or not the equipment is wireless and whether or not you want to record footage.
Deterrent
Another factor to consider before deciding on whether or not to install CCTV in your home or business is its effectiveness as a crime deterrent. Installing a CCTV system within an area may decrease criminal activity, but statistics have shown that most criminals are looking for an easy target. Therefore, if a potential criminal happens upon your property and sees the CCTV camera, they may simply move to another location where they believe it will be easier to commit a crime.
Criminals may also vandalize your equipment to ensure that their faces are not recorded on the footage. Installing a CCTV system may provide you with peace of mind and make it easier to monitor your property, but it can also lead to other problems. Anyone who knows where the cameras are installed and how they work would be able to easily hack into your feed and access footage from anywhere in the world.
You must weigh all of the pros and cons before deciding on whether or not to install a CCTV in your home or business. Installing these cameras can be invaluable when it comes to deterring crime, but you must take into account all of the factors involved to make an informed decision.
