When developing our industry leading Remote Video Monitoring Security Services, our team of professionals knew that crimes such as material theft and vandalism predominantly occur at night. To provide effective site security, our team developed measures that would allow us to operate in low to no light environments.
The Importance of Crime Prevention at Night
Unlike residential crimes, business crime is more likely to occur at night – once the workers have gone home and the property is left vacant(1). Locations such as construction sites, recycling facilities, and commercial property become easy targets for even the most novice thieves – due to the large amount of highly valuable materials, machinery, and equipment that are left unattended once the workday is done.
An example of this occurred on May 18th, 2022, at one of our clients’ recycling facilities. At approximately 5:00am an individual trespassed onto the off-limits site and began to remove materials from the large piles of scrap metal.
Our operators quickly contacted local law enforcement to not only stop the crime in progress, but to also protect the suspect from the many safety hazards that are present at these facilities, as well as protecting the client from liability in the event of an accident.
The Police arrived on site with haste and apprehended the suspect. This is just a single example of the incidents that occur every night, when our operators are detecting and deterring criminal & unwanted activity with the help of our advanced security technology.
Our Industry Leading Technology for Detecting & Deterring Crime at Night
When providing security at night it is critical that we utilize reliable, innovative technology to assist our operators in protecting our clients’ property & assets. Some of the technologies include:
Infrared (IR) Technology:
Our high resolution Pan-Tilt-Zoom cameras, Stationary cameras, and License Plate Reader cameras all come equipped with automatic internal infrared Night Vision capabilities.
When our cameras are exposed to a low light environment, they will automatically switch to ‘night mode’; an internal IR cut filter is removed which allows the full amount of infrared light to hit the sensor, in turn allowing our operators to see clearly.
Thermal Cameras:
Thermal cameras are another innovative tool that our video monitoring operators utilize to detect and deter crime at night. Unlike IR night vision, these cameras are strictly deployed for night applications and are not usable during the day.
Thermal cameras work by producing images based on the various heat signatures in a scene(2). When an individual or object that produces heat appears in the camera view, they will show in a different shade that significantly contrasts the background of the rest of the footage, illuminating them in low-light and no-light situations.
Blue LED Strobe Lights:
Our highly visible blue LED strobe light is another useful security peripheral for fighting crime at night. Our strobe lights are the used to draw attention to and illuminate the site, as criminals typically prefer to work inconspicuously – unseen, & in darkness. Often enough, criminals will vacate the site after they realize there are on-site security measures(3).
In additional to deterring crime, our small but powerful strobe lights are utilized for directing Police, Fire Fighters, and other first responders to specific locations on site where they are needed most.
Proprietary AI Powered Analytics:
Our team of in-house software developers & engineers have created a neural network that has paved the way for the development of our AI powered human and fire detection system.
A major problem with traditional live remote video monitoring at night is that it can be difficult to see when a suspect enters the site, especially when they don’t want to be seen.
Through machine learning, our custom analytics system, powered by AI, detects when a human has entered or a fire has developed within the analytic region; in comparison to traditional analytics that detect when there is any form of movement.
This hyper intelligent technology provides our operators with context to on-site detections and allows them to prioritize the security situations based on urgency. Our proprietary AI system has improved our industry leading detection & deterrence rate even further – to an astonishing 99.2%!
As an industry leading remote security company, it is imperative that our services are effective at all times, no matter what the site conditions are. Our IR, thermal cameras, and AI powered analytics allow our operators to detect crime with the highest level of accuracy, even during the late evening and in the dead of night.
Resources:
- “Construction Site Theft Statistics & Prevention Tips for Job Sites” Kelly Dunning, Justworks Hours, July 24th, 2019
- “How infrared cameras work” Fluke
- “How to Protect Your Site and Equipment from Theft and Vandalism” Dozr, Kevin Forestell, August 18, 2020