by Germán Cortés
CCTVs are a highly deterrent system that prevents people from performing unlawful or prohibited acts. We also have the possibility to record the scene and consult it as many times as necessary to reconstruct the facts and find the culprits.
Finally, today these digital images can be sent by modern means of transmission and scenes can be consulted remotely, either live or previously recorded videos.
CCTV is the extension of the eyes of security guards. There is no organ of the human senses that gives us as much information as video. They remember that popular expression that "an image is worth more than a thousand words" and if we add audio to that image, it generates a very complete document of research and security.
They don't do what we want
However, on several occasions the results that video surveillance equipment give us, produce a huge feeling of frustration to end users and security guards. The companies acquire the various systems, -I must admit, that they are not at all economical-, and the hope arises that with the technology purchased, we are really protected, safe and we discover at the moment of truth, that is, at the moment of reconstructing a claim or reviewing a simple recording to know if the one who entered was Pedro or Juan, that the images seen are not as desired.
The problem is very serious and is more common than you imagine. Sometimes equipment operators and their supervisors already know the limitations of the systems and simply discard the help of this tool, considering it useless when it comes to establishing the truth. So what was it bought for? Why do we feel cheated?
Comparisons
As a first step I must explain that we cannot pretend to see with a video camera the same thing we see with our eyes. Just to match the conditions at the level of technical jargon, we say that the sense of human vision has two color cameras, each mobile, with resolution greater than 130 megapixels, with high sensitivity and with all color adjustments, compensation, dynamic range and other features at very high and super special ranges.
Additionally, our brain interprets the information from the two cameras and converts it into a three-dimensional vision of excellent quality, which mixed with the audio of our auditory system and the rest of the sense organs makes the experience lived by a human very different from that of a traditional camera. The only thing that surpasses us is in the ability to zoom in, see Infrared (IR) light and in continuous work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
So please DO NOT expect miracles, nor pretend that a $40 camera does the same as the sophisticated human visual system. But there is another important factor that arises when explaining the feeling of frustration mentioned, is the lack of professionalism in the guild.
I must respectfully, but very responsibly, say that our electronic security guild, especially the one oriented to video surveillance, is flooded with incapable, inexperienced and unscrupulous people who are only content to sell boxes and equipment, without concentrating on the use and real need of each project. I know it looks terrible and generates distrust, but it's the truth. Let me explain the subject.
Companies to follow
As in any commercial sector there are bad and good companies. In our case, good companies almost always have engineers and technicians with more than 10 years of experience, represent good quality brands (not necessarily expensive) and have the infrastructure to provide solid technical and administrative support. This means excellent customer service, stock of spare parts, 24-hour service, its technicians are identified by making aesthetic installations that meet all standards, engineering work is done that allows planning and sizing the systems perfectly, risk analysis that generates design criteria well used, mathematical calculations, professional plans, work with monitoring formats and procedures that ensure the excellent quality of the proposed solution, always thinking about the needs and budget of the client and not so much in the interests of the company.
Its engineers and technicians are very well trained, they do whatever training courses they offer (not only the free ones) and permanently the projects in which they participate win them, giving good utilities for their partners and creating a sense of tranquility in their clients. Do you find it utopian that there are companies like that? The truth is that there are few, but in Latin America there are more and more.
Companies to forget
On the opposite side, there are the bad companies, that is, those that never do the above. Those who think that selling massively is their only goal, regardless of the quality of the product, or the quality of the personnel who install it. They are those that specialize in selling problems, that is, the ones that the vast majority of customers buy from them once and never do it again, the companies that never invest neither time nor money in training their people, those that believe that an engineer knows everything and even convinces him of this, so the engineer ends up doing what he thinks is right for the benefit of the company and not the end customer.
Those who buy the cheapest and sell it with deception taking advantage of the ignorance of the end user. They are companies that live from "sell and run" elsewhere, with the aim of avoiding lawsuits. They are the ones that could well have a place in "San Andresito" (informal shopping center and smuggling foci that exist in Colombia), because all the technical knowledge is covered by the phrases of the boxes of the equipment they sell. Your salespeople do not analyze, do not think about the needs of customers, but insist only on knowing how many you want and when you are going to pay them.
Obviously there are the companies in the middle, that is, those that have already realized their mistakes (sometimes with great technical or financial setbacks, and many commitments to fulfill, which force them to think about what they failed) and want to be like the first but still do not succeed. In this group there is everything, including the "foxes that disguise themselves as little red riding hood", to continue with the deception.
Wait in our next edition, the continuation of this article in which we will talk about some companies from other sectors of the industry and that seek to sell security equipment in the same way they did in the industry from which they come. In the final part of the text the author will explain what are the characteristics that differentiate a toy CCTV equipment from a professional one, in addition to the recommendations and concerns to which an adequate safety equipment must respond.
*Germán Alexis Cortés H. is an electrical engineer expert in building automation and General Manager of Insetrón Ltda. It is dedicated to the consltoría of Latin American character. If you want you can write to [email protected]
