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By David Colmans The classic Charles Dickens story, “A Tale of Two Cities,” starts out with the words, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” So it is when the holidays roll around and we may throw caution to the wind. Just drive through most any neighborhood from “Black Friday” after Thanksgiving through the Super Bowl next year. What to your wandering eyes should appear, but little invitations to area burglars who now know where to find all the good stuff. There’s one or two days a week that the bad guys eagerly wait for. It’s the “Come Burglarize My House” sign that may be in your yard. The day before and the day of trash pick-up are great for cruising. That’s when most of us put out, along with our regular trash, the empty boxes from the new HDTVs, computers, appliances and other goodies we buy ourselves during the holidays. Here is something to think about to help with home safety precautions. 1. The bad guys just make notes of the addresses where they see the empt...

THE ISSUE: Burglaries OUR OPINION: Christmas is time of vulnerability The shopping season has begun in earnest. Advice is frequent on caution while shopping. Don't become the victim of a robbery as you're scurrying about stores, malls and parking lots. But what about your home? Click here to read the entire story

While analysts are cautiously optimistic about this year's holiday retail outlook, retailers need to take steps to prevent shoplifters or a dishonest employee from dampening a good selling season. Below is a list to help retailers protect their businesses this holiday season: 1. Make sure your video surveillance system is working properly. It may have been a while since you looked closely at your video surveillance system and confirmed that it was capturing images properly. Check to see that the cameras are still positioned to give you optimal coverage. Make sure the system’s digital video recorder (DVR) or network video recorder (NVR) is plugged in! Also make sure you have a UPS in place and that it has been tested. 2. Verify that your holiday decorations and displays do not obstruct your security systems. Watch out for decorations and displays that may obstruct video cameras or set off motion sensors. Mylar balloons are notorious for causing false alarms. 3. Test your hol...

October is National Crime Prevention Month and is a time when communities across the country raise awareness about crime and what can be done to help prevent it. Did you know that in any given year, property crimes -- including burglary -- outnumber violent crimes almost 8 to 1? And statistics show that a burglar will spend 45 minutes deciding which home is going to be his next target but only three minutes actually burglarizing the residence. With this in mind, the security experts at Schlage have come up with a Top 10 list of things you can do help to keep your family and home from becoming crime targets. 1. Make sure each exterior door has a solid core and is protected by a high-quality deadbolt, including the door linking the garage and house. Also, secure all windows with quality locks -- even those on the second floor. 2. Invest in a home-security system with central monitoring, and if you move into a home that already has a security system, change the entry code. 3. Keep...

Are you having problems with the theft of catalytic converters, vandalism - or do you have even bigger problems such as this dealer in California (watch video here) ? Put a stop to it NOW with the Virtual Guard Protection System from MonitorClosely.com. A traditional CCTV system that only records may be good for reviewing a crime but it is not that beneficial in notification of a crime in progress. Our system will allow you to do both!! It's a normal CCTV recording system during the day and a Virtual Guard at night! It is critical that law enforcement is notified immediately, WHILE the crime is in progress, in order to apprehend the criminal and prevent further damage or loss. The MonitorClosely.com Virtual Guard Service ultimately saves you money (ROI in the first year)! It is like having full-time hired guards but at a fraction of the cost. In addition, our system works 24/7, never takes a break, never falls asleep, doesn't need a vacation, never asks for a raise and ne...

"Everybody knows that a security camera system, even if it is only made up of one camera, can be one of the most useful tools you can have as a business owner. A security camera system can catch criminals in the act, deter criminals from attempting a crime, or even catch dishonest employees. One such case of a security camera system catching a thieving employee comes from Akron, Ohio. Willie Grimes, a 22-year-old resident of Akron, has recently been charged with theft. According to police, Grimes was caught stealing from a Chapel Hill shoe store where he was employed. When the owner of the store Grimes worked for caught him trying to take two pairs of shoes out of the store, he immediately fired him. The owner examined security footage from past days and found that Grimes had been smuggling shoes out of the store for quite some time. Grimes would hide the shoes in trash bags that he would take out back to the trash can and then hide the empty shoe boxes in the rafters of the...

Greenville County Council unanimously approved an ordinance that will help residents and visitors of downtown Greenville sleep a little easier at night and enjoy their visit a little more. Greenville police say the surveillance cameras in downtown Greenville have been instrumental in helping them catch criminals and the goal of adding a new one is expected to do the same. Lt. Joe Browning with the Greenville police department says, "Having those cameras there makes some folks think twice before they knock out a window." Most recently the surveillance cameras in downtown Greenville were key in catching the suspects who investigators say vandalized a brick statue on Main Street. Lt. Browning says, "We had a new statue installed just below the Greenville news and some individuals decided to vandalize that statue by removing the head. We were able to go back and get video footage of the actual crime, the vehicle they were driving and it didn't take us long to sol...

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A MonitorClosely.com surveillance system combined with our Virtual Guard / Police Priority service will help protect your business from the destruction caused by copper thieves. Call us for a FREE site survey and let us help protect you from becoming the subject of an article like the one below. By George Diepenbrock August 15, 2010 One of Brenda Wilch’s instructors at the Lawrence Jazzercise Center called her earlier this month. It was 87 degrees inside the fitness center and getting warmer as the summer heat promised to increase outside at the strip mall, 3115 W. Sixth St. Wilch, who’s owned the business since July 1, asked her maintenance man to work on the two units in the alley. “They arrived. We looked outside and realized that one unit had been completely dismantled,” Wilch said. “The other unit was in pieces.” Thieves had been after the copper wire in the units. Since July 30, Lawrence police have taken reports of five other similar crimes. Sgt. Matt Sarna, a Lawr...

The potential to reliably detect intruders, criminals and terrorists by analyzing CCTV video without human intervention: That’s the power of video analytics. by James Careless It is a specialized form of software that can decide whether or not something is amiss with what the surveillance camera is seeing—Is that a person trying to climb the fence?—and decide whether or not to alert the system’s human monitors. In doing so, video analytics technology eliminates the mind-numbing aspect of human surveillance; namely having to watch numerous camera feeds in real-time, when nothing is occurring with most of them. “Today’s intrusion detection systems often have hundreds of cameras; some have thousands,” says Steve Vinsik, vice president for critical infrastructure protection with Unisys Federal Systems. “A human can only watch so many video feeds at one time, and it is extremely fatiguing to the viewer when nothing is happening in most of them. Video analytics takes this job away, allowing ...

Megapixel cameras have been one of most significant advancements for video security in recent history, and have permanently changed how professionals think about their video surveillance solutions. There are several key advantages made possible by megapixel technology, including: 1. Ultra High Resolutions The image resolution delivered by a megapixel camera is at least 3x higher than that of a traditional analog CCTV camera. Higher resolution provides greater detail. Greater detail allows for better identification. 2. Forensic Inspection When reviewing live or recorded video, megapixel cameras allow you to digitally zoom in on a specific area, with minimal loss of definition, to capture important details such as facial features or a license plate. 3. REDUCED Costs Megapixel technology allows you to use fewer cameras to capture the level of detail your solution requires, greatly reducing both camera and installation costs. 4. PTZ Alternative Before megapixel, video scan...

There are many ways to protect your small business from burglars. Of course, nothing is foolproof, but a few simple steps can go a long way in preventing a robbery. Consider the following tips. Click here to read the complete story

A Quick Background Color and black and white cameras both have their unique strengths for surveillance needs. Color cameras have the obvious benefit of providing the detail of…color. Being able to record the color of a suspect’s skin tone, clothing, or vehicle is beyond import – it can truly make the difference between solving the crime and the bad guy going free. In order for color cameras to accurately produce colors, during manufacturing an IR cut filter is placed over the imager. The cut filter allows the camera to only see light in the visible spectrum (400nm to 750nm). Consequently, color cameras fall short when it comes to producing usable images in low light scenarios. Conversely, black and white cameras don’t use an IR cut filter because they do not need to see color. With the absence of this filter, B&W cameras can make use of other light frequencies – such as infrared – which come from a variety of sources, including the sun, fluorescent lights, incandescent lights a...

Have the idea of buying and using access control systems ever arrived at your mind? Take into consideration these instances, when the family goes on a long weekend holiday and no one is left at home, are you sure of the safety of your home? Moreover, at work when all of the workers went home for the night and you just have one guard for a 1 hectare facility, are you comfortable with the security? Well, if it took you about 3 seconds to reply to "no", you ought to consider adding a advance type of access control system. It is to remove that doubt in your mind in terms of the safety and security of your house and your workplace. Click here to read the full story.

Like them or not, security cameras are growing in popularity. Whether it be at the gas station, in a bank, or even at a restaurant, there are most likely surveillance cameras watching. Click here for the full story.

Vandalism, including graffiti, can cost a business thousands of dollars. One way to reduce, and even eliminate, vandalism is with a properly designed and installed surveillance system. It worked for this dentist, watch the news clip - click here .

Click the link below for the full article. Frost & Sullivan Endorses New CCTV Camera Resolution Specification

Most people don’t think much about opening doors: insert key, turn knob and walk in. If your workplace issues ID badges there may be a bit more thought that goes into it as you tap the badge on a sensor, hear the click and pull open the door. But physical access systems are undergoing the most radical transformation since the switch from keys to cards and tumblers to electronics. To the end user very little should change–there may be an increase in the use of biometrics–but most individuals will still simply tap the ID and go. Click here to read the full story