CCTV Systems: Tangible Security

Dear readers. Finally a new year; We wish from this medium that you have enjoyed the end of the year holidays in the company of families and friends, as well as we hope that 2008 will bring for all of you triumphs and satisfactions.

To begin this year, I would like to highlight some facts that enhance the decision to use electronic security systems when it comes to the fight against crime. Latin America is a territory where insecurity grows every day (I say Latin America because it is the region that concerns us, however this phenomenon is of a global nature), but the use of security systems is helping to counteract this phenomenon, if not in the deterrent part, at least they are allowing the capture of the criminals.

To cite just a couple of cases, in Bogotá, Colombia, in late 2007, there was the murder of a young man in one of the stations of a massive transport system, known as the Transmilenio; there, the security cameras allowed to identify those who perpetrated the crime, which began a rather aggressive search by the local authorities that in the end yielded its results with the capture of two individuals.

Not just this one. In Barcelona, Spain, the security cameras of a train car made it possible to identify a xenophobe who last October insulted and beat an Ecuadorian citizen living in the city; unfortunately this fact had no happy ending and the offender was, strangely, released.

This media also reported how the security cameras of an ATM in Denmark allowed the capture of a man who had murdered an old woman and had stolen her belongings, and who after the crime had dedicated himself to emptying his savings accounts.

Beyond delving into the details of the cases of effectiveness of these systems, which are not few, what is intended with this note is to take a look at the way in which security systems are assuming a preponderant role in the protection of the life and property of citizens, even though they were traditionally considered luxury items.

At present, fortunately, the sellers of security systems have in the effectiveness shown by them in the different countries of the world, a new sales argument.