They’ll also have noticed in which direction the surveillance market is heading.
CCTV over the Internet – otherwise known as IP surveillance – is big news just now, although many commentators believe it will be another five years or so before this segment of the monitoring market really begins to assert itself. Not so digital recording, though, which is massively popular.
With an estimated 4.5 million cameras now installed across the country, our penchant for CCTV shows no signs of abating. Indeed, the desire for better quality recording systems and pin sharp images must surely gain momentum as the very latest fourth generation digital systems duly arrive.
The benefits of ‘going digital’ are there for all to see. The plethora of digital video recorders (DVRs) on display in Birmingham oozed flexibility of operation, not to mention savings on the bottom line for security managers. Indeed, with the advent of low cost, high capacity disk drives, the latest digital offerings are more than capable of recording for as many days as an end user’s Data Protection policy stipulates before being overwritten. Thus the need for a tape library is removed altogether. A Godsend to hard-pressed managers for whom tape maintenance is an ever-present headache.
That said, end users crave effective standards covering the handling and admissibility of video evidence.Confusion still abounds over what is and what isn’t acceptable in Court. Great news, then, that the BSIA has formed a Working Group to devise a Code of Practice for Digital Recording Systems.
When published, this should – at the very least – help to dispel some of the myths regarding the admissibility of digital evidence, and provide a focal point for all interested parties (whether they be end users, representatives of the criminal justice system or security manufacturers and installers).
Maybe then we’ll be in a situation where digital CCTV’s benefits are fully realised where it matters most: convicting criminals in our Courts of Law.
