Tip of the Week: Make Sure Your Security Cameras Cover These 4 Spots

You don’t have to be a large enterprise to implement a security system in your office, and there are plenty of practical reasons to have one. How would you know if an employee made off with company hardware, or how much time are your employees wasting when nobody's watching? For concerns such as these, security cameras are a practical solution.

Before you invest heavily in security equipment, like purchasing cameras and running wires, you should ask yourself why you need them in the first place. Your answer should fall in line with the two most basic uses for security cameras: deterrence and investigation.

• If you want to deter the possibility of theft in your office, make sure that your cameras are in plain sight. This gives potential thieves an opportunity to ask themselves if it’s worth getting caught.
• If you want to investigate some creeping suspicions that you might have, you need to pick a location that helps you get a clear glimpse of the potential crime scene.

Under certain circumstances, you’ll find value in placing cameras in both locations, but chances are that if you’re considering security cameras, you have a reason in mind that you’ll want to stay focused on.

You next need to figure out where you want to install your cameras to best suit your organization’s security needs. For assistance with this step, consider these top four places to install a CCTV or other security camera system.

Be Sure to Cover Entrances and Exits
No matter how much you want to keep your entire office under surveillance at all times, trying to accomplish this is unrealistic. It’s much more manageable to keep an eye on the doorways leading into and out of your office. Doing so lets you keep a headcount of who arrives and leaves, and provides you with an angle to catch a glimpse of your visitors’ faces.

One of the best ways to make sure that your cameras are effective is to utilize a TV or a computer screen to catch someone’s eye as they walk into a room. They will instinctively turn their head to look at the screen, giving you a clear shot of them.

At Places with POS Systems
Organizations that utilize point-of-sale systems like cash registers, teller machines, and kiosks, will find cameras of great value. Consider placing your cameras pointing directly at where the customer stands at about seven feet off the ground. If you go much higher than this, you will place it too high where you can only see the top of your customer’s head.

In fact, some POS systems allows for direct integration with a camera system, going so far as to provide a capture of receipts to keep a close watch on transactions.

In Clear Sight of Your Most Valuable Assets
Think about what you have that a thief might want. Is it being monitored as thoroughly as it should be? You don’t want someone walking out the door with a cash drawer, or accessing a cabinet filled with sensitive information. If there’s something that looks like it might be particularly tempting to any would-be thief, make sure there is a camera pointing at it.

Locations That Are Hidden from View
It makes sense that someone who wants to try something sketchy might slip away from view to find a spot away from view. This could be behind the building, in a stairwell, or just anywhere that’s secluded within your office. If they know that the spot is being monitored, they’ll be less likely to go there and less likely to cause trouble.

Once you’ve decided where the best spot for your security cameras will be, you’ll need to install them. We recommend that you seek out professional assistance for this task, as you never know what complications will come up. Computerware would be happy to use our technical expertise to help you set up the cameras, implement data storage for large video files, and ensure that all proper networking contingencies are in place.

To learn more, reach out to us at (703) 821-8200.