Welcome to the
"Coppers Corner"
section of
Doktor Jons
Guide to Closed Circuit TV

Doktor Jon does his bit to help
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A brief Coppers Guide to Closed Circuit Television (CCTV)
- 3. CCTV System Profiling - the key to success? -
 

With the benefit of the Crime Audit and Risk Assessment Surveys, we come to ...
Step 3 which is the CCTV System Profile (SP)

As far as Doktor Jon is concerned, this is the most crucial step; although if the truth be told, it wouldn't be as useful without having previously carried out the first two stages.

Having collated all the information from the Crime Audit and the Risk Assessment Survey, it’s now come to a point where you have to try and make sense of all this raw data, and for that you need to prepare a proper System Profile.

Unfortunately in the real world, this is usually the bit that is conveniently missed out, hence the reason why so many CCTV cameras just don't cut the mustard.
Anyhow, let’s start with the basics first - every CCTV security system (and some of their constituent components) are capable of fulfilling one or more of the following four discreet functions, which are represented by the acronym ‘DISE’.

D = Deterrence ( The ability to disuade criminal activity merely by its presence )
I = Incident Monitoring ( The facility to observe and track events and individuals in real time )
S = Site Management ( The opportunity to monitor events and deploy resources as required )
E = Evidential Recording ( The passive collection of Evidential Quality Recordings )

At a global level, the objectives for a complete system ( or at a macro level an individual component, for example a CCTV camera ) can be scored against DISE, such that it's intended purpose is given a percentage rating, with the total overall figure coming to 100%.

So as a couple of working examples, consider first a camera located at the main entrance to a shopping centre (mall), which may be assessed as:-

Deterrence = 30%, Incident monitoring = 10%,
Site management = 10%, Evidential recording = 50%.

It is intended to be seen by shoppers as a visible deterrent, but it's primary purpose is to provide Evidential Quality Recordings of everyone entering or leaving the centre. It's usefulness for monitoring an incident or as a site management tool are somewhat restricted, simply by it's location.

As a further example, what about the door entry camera that monitors the secured and restricted access to the shopping centres Security Control Room:-

Deterrence = 15%, Incident monitoring = 10%,
Site management = 50%, Evidential recording = 25%.

It's use as a deterrent is secondary to it's primary role, which is to observe and identify any individual wishing to enter the Control Room. As a back up to any incident, or to confirm the presence of an individual at a set time, the evidential recording function becomes the next most important role.

Topic Review:-

A DISE assessment can be applied to a complete system (global) or an individual component (e.g. a camera) to quantify what it's intended purpose is going to be;
 

Further information about the importance of CCTV System Profiling >>

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