Uses Of Cctv

By Author: sudarshan singh
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Most CCTV systems record and store digital video and images to a Digital Video Recorder or in the case of IP cameras directly to a server, either on-site or offsite. Integrated systems allow users to connect remotely from the internet and view what their cameras are viewing remotely, similar to that of IP cameras. In one incident, a lady from Boynton Beach, Florida was able to watch her house get robbed and contacted police directly from her office at work. There are many uses of CCTV -

Crime prevention- Public Area CCTV and Crime Prevention: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," examined 44 different studies that collectively surveyed areas from the United Kingdom to U.S. cities such as Cincinnati and New York. The analysis found that: 1) Surveillance systems were most effective in parking lots, where their use resulted in a 51% decrease in crime; 2) Public transportation areas saw a 23% decrease in crimes; 3) Systems in public settings were the least effective, with just a 7% decrease in crimes overall.

These factors could not be teased apart from the effect of CCTV cameras being present or absent ...
... while crimes were being committed. Thus, a combination of factors might be important for the decrease in crime not just the CCTV cameras. The 2009 study admitted to similar problems as well as issues with the consistency of the percentage of area covered by CCTV cameras within the tested sites (e.g. car parks have more cameras per square inch than public transit).There is still much research to be done to determine the effectiveness of CCTV cameras on crime prevention before any conclusions can be drawn.

Prevalence- The exact number of CCTV cameras in the UK is not known for certain because there is no requirement to register CCTV cameras. However, research published in CCTV Image magazine estimates that the number of cameras in the UK is 1.85 million. The number is based on extrapolating from a comprehensive survey of public and private cameras within the Cheshire Constabulary jurisdiction. This works out as an average of one camera for every 32 people in the UK, although the density of cameras varies from place to place to such a degree as to make this figure almost meaningless. The Cheshire report also claims that the average person on a typical day would be seen by 70 CCTV cameras, although many of these sightings would be brief glimpses from cameras in shops.

he CCTV User Group estimates that there are around 1.5 million CCTV cameras in city centres, stations, airports, major retail areas and so forth. This figure does not include the smaller surveillance systems such as those that may be found in local corner shops [38] and is therefore broadly in line with the Cheshire report.

Hacking and video art - Hackers and guerrilla artists have exposed the vulnerabilities of the video systems in an act dubbed "video sniffing”. They have crossed feeds, uploaded their own video feeds and used the video footage for artistic purposes.

Industrial processes that take place under conditions dangerous for humans are today often supervised by CCTV. These are mainly processes in the chemical industry, the interior of reactors or facilities for manufacture of nuclear fuel. Special cameras for some of these purposes include line-scan cameras and thermo graphic cameras which allow operators to measure the temperature of the processes. The usage of CCTV in such processes is sometimes required by law.