To get value for money and an effective CCTV system you must have an understanding of what you need and how to achieve the desired results. The design process for a CCTV system can be quite complicated. I have been called in to many systems and asked why has it had little to no impact on the original problem. The answer is usually because the original problem was not clearly identified and the performance requirements of the CCTV system were not considered. The end result is a pile of CCTV equipment installed that does not do what is supposed to.
Before
considering the implementation of any CCTV system, it is important to understand what the problem is and whether CCTV is the most appropriate solution. The
production of an operational requirement document will ensure that the key
points are considered, such as why do I want CCTV, what is its purpose, what
will it achieve and what will the performance criteria be.
Firstly make a statement of
need that defines the problem and assesses the potential impact of CCTV upon it.
I.e. will the introduction of CCTV alleviate the problem? This statement shall clearly define the problem and
the solution.
The second part of the operational requirement will detail specific problem locations and the required performance specification, both technically and operationally. For example, a camera on the perimeter of a site may need to be able to “Detect” a person engaged in a particular activity under low light conditions. The performance
of a CCTV camera, in terms of operational requirement, can be defined within five surveillance
categories.
Monitor and Control – A person occupies at
least 5% of the overall CCTV image height.
Detect – A person occupies at least 10% of
the overall CCTV image height.
Observe – A person occupies at least 25% of
the overall CCTV image height.
Recognise – A person occupies at least 50% of
the overall CCTV image height.
Identify – A person occupies at least 100% of
the overall CCTV image height.
This part also
details the operational issues of who monitors the system, where and when. A
recording archive quality and duration must be established and high-level
Standard Operational Procedures produced to determine the appropriate response
to any given scenario. It is also important to establish a method of
transmitting the procedures to the response team to ensure that the correct
response is initiated, bearing in mind that some scenarios will be rare and
procedures may not be instantly familiar to the team.
With the
operational requirement document in place, it is necessary to consider the
technical specification to fulfill the requirement. A detailed specification
should be produced that can be used for the purchasing process and a system for
commissioning and validation of the system should be documented.
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