Archive for May, 2011

Using a Security Camera to Keep Your Home Safe

Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

When it comes to using a security camera to keep your home safe you should consider protecting both the inside and outside of your home. Many people think of security cameras as only being good when you are away from home but they are missing the true capabilities.

With a properly placed set of cameras and the right recording device you can access the video while you are at work to help keep an eye on your pets, kids or guests all day long while you aren’t home and peace of mind can be priceless.

For outside protection you have to be sure you choose outdoor security cameras to ensure they will be weatherproof and you should also be sure they are vandal resistant. An easily defeated camera does you no good. Domed Security Cameras can be good in this instance.

A mix of hidden and visible cameras are recommended as the visible cameras will act as a deterrent for most criminals and the hidden cameras are there to ensure even better equipped criminals are caught on video.

You should place your outside cameras in such a way as to cover the doors and first floor windows. Security cameras have a cone view meaning that the closer you are to the camera the less width it can view so the farther away from your house you place the cameras the wider the view will be and the less cameras it will take to ensure full coverage. Often trees or poles can be used for this purpose.

A good outdoor hidden security camera for home or small business use is the spotlight hidden camera. It looks like a standard motion activated spotlight but in actuality it contains a camera with built-in DVR so it is a self-contained unit. The spotlight allows the camera to see up to 90 feet in complete darkness to ensure the cover of night won’t help the criminals.

For your indoor cameras you have the option to use all hidden cameras or a mix of both much like you did outside but this all depends on your budget and personal preferences. Hidden cameras are much more expensive than your standard indoor security cameras so make sure you figure that in as you begin to plan your security layout.

As for placement of cameras inside you should also cover the external doors so you can always see who is coming and going at your home. If you have pets, kids or guests you want to watch you may want to add additional cameras in various parts of the home such as the living room and garage areas.

To be able to view the cameras over the internet you will need to be sure the video recording device that you decide to use is listed at network capable or possibly internet or network ready. If the video recording device is network ready then it should be prominently displayed as this is not a standard feature at this point in time.

Stay Safe!

The Judge


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How to Protect a Business Using Security Cameras

Saturday, May 7th, 2011

To protect a business using security cameras you will need to ensure you cover all of the vital areas. These areas include all external doors, office areas, long hallways and any spot where a safe or register is located.

The actual physical placement of any security cameras will vary depending on your type of business such as retail or office as well as the type of building itself but you can follow a few rules of thumb.

As mentioned previously, you need to cover all doors that lead to the outside and if you have windows try to cover those as well although windows get to be of less a concern the higher up on floors you go.

Remember, the amount of an area that security cameras can “see” gets wider the farther away you get from the camera so just think of it as a cone that spreads out. This means in many cases you will be able to cover a larger area by setting the camera back from the area. With this in mind you could potentially cover the entire front of the store or business with just 1 or 2 cameras.

In the office areas you may want to consider using hidden security cameras which will help you find and prosecute any employee theft as well.

For long hallways you should place a camera at both ends to be sure you get full coverage of the area. The last thing you want is someone roaming the halls without being caught on at least one of your security cameras.

For a retail business you need to cover any area where you have a safe and placing a camera over any cash register is also a good idea. Both of these are also areas where a smoke detector hidden camera or sprinkler head hidden camera may be the best bet.

You can never plan for every event and no matter how many security precautions you put in place you can never guarantee you will not fall victim to some type of crime. The best you can hope for is to lower the odds and in the case something does happen you want to be sure to have the video evidence to help identify and prosecute the offender.

Stay Safe!

The Judge


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How to Place Security Cameras in Your Jewelry Store

Friday, May 6th, 2011

When deciding where to place security cameras in your jewelry store you should consider a two pronged approach utilizing both hidden and visible security cameras. The reason you would want to do this is that even most of the smash and grab jewel thefts were prefaced by at least one of the criminals casing the store in order to learn about the security setup and any vulnerabilities.

Your goal is to try and make it more difficult for any criminal to rob your store without winding up on the video recording of at least one security camera. This can also be very helpful for preventing most employee theft.

When placing hidden security cameras within your jewelry store you will want to cover your most expensive displays and any spot where you have a safe or cash register. A good choice for this situation will be the smoke detector hidden camera or the sprinkler head hidden camera.

Both have a down view so they can be placed right over the area to ensure you get the best possible view of anything, jewelry or money, that is passed back and forth across the counter. This will help keep both your customers and employees honest.

As for your visible cameras you will want to use domed security cameras and it would be worth the extra to get the higher resolution models so that you can be sure to get the most detailed video possible. You’ll find the difference in price to be small in comparison to the better resolution.

Be sure you place at least one camera on the far wall across from the front of the store so that you get a wide shot of the storefront area. You’ll have to see if one camera will cover the area but that will all depend on the length of the storefront and distance of the far wall.

Place a camera in all 4 corners of the store to they are easily seen to help deter theft and ensure full coverage of the store and display cases.

Remember you can always scale your security setup as needed should you find any holes or not have enough capital to purchase all the security cameras you need at one time. Get what you can and add as you go if necessary.

Stay Safe!

The Judge


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Choosing the Right Security Camera for your Home

Sunday, May 1st, 2011

When it comes to choosing the right security camera for your home you need to consider a few different things first. Although there are many feature choices you will need to wade through, your main choices are as to whether or not you want your security cameras hidden. That is your first hurdle.

Personally I recommend a mixture of the two types. The visible security camera will be there to deter criminals to start with and the hidden ones are there for the pros who are not deterred by your visible security precautions. You see, unlike television criminals, your garden variety criminal is just some punk with no skills or education who can often be deterred just by the sight of security cameras. The professional criminal is much rarer.

When you choose a hidden security camera you really should consider using a standalone camera that has its’ own built-in DVR so that there will be no need at all to connect it to your main security setup which will help in case the criminals get to the main recording device and remove or destroy it.

The hidden cameras then become more of a fallback in the off chance that some professionals defeat your security setup and get into your home. A good choice for this is the spotlight hidden camera which looks like a standard motion activated light on your home but in fact it has a built-in camera and DVR.

Because the light turns on when it detects motion the spotlight hidden camera can also see at night up to 90 feet away which helps to ensure you get a good picture night or day. These cameras usually record to standard 8 – 32 gig micro SD card.

A 32 gig card would give you roughly 20 hours of record time but since the camera on records when it detects motion it could potentially take days or even weeks to fill the card and you have the option to set it to auto overwrite as well.

This way if you don’t have an incident you need to save the video of you can just set the camera to overwrite when full and leave it in place for months on end so don’t let the up to 20 hours of record time scare you, it is much more time than it sounds.

For your visible cameras you should go for an outdoor domed security camera that is vandal resistant. It is important you only use an outdoor approved camera outside as indoor cameras are not designed to be weatherproof and will probably be useless after the first dew, rain or cold weather event.

Be sure to place your visible cameras right near the front door up in a corner as high as possible. It can also be a good idea to use a can security camera which is larger and even more obvious. Often you can deter them from choosing your house at all by being a bit “showy” with your security cameras.

Stay Safe!

The Judge


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