Surveillance, CCTV & Alarm Monitoring

CCTV: Purposes and Camera Types

CCTV (closed-circuit television) is a system of cameras feeding monitors or recorders that are not publicly broadcast. It serves four purposes:

• Deterrence — visible cameras discourage crime
• Detection — live monitoring lets a guard spot incidents as they happen
• Evidence — recorded footage supports investigations and court cases
• Remote monitoring — a single guard can watch multiple sites from one location

Camera Types

---

Positioning and Blind Spots

Camera placement is a trade-off between coverage and cost. A guard must know the layout and, more importantly, its blind spots — areas no camera covers.

• Identify blind spots on every shift turnover; they are where foot checks are most important
• Overlap fields of view where possible so a suspect cannot move from one camera to a gap
• Lighting matters — a camera is useless if the area is too dark; check that lighting covers the field of view
• Keep lenses clean — dirt, cobwebs, or rain on a dome obscure the image

A camera is a tool, not a replacement for a guard. CCTV without active monitoring and foot checks of blind spots is just recorded evidence after the fact.

---

Operating PTZ Cameras and Presets

A PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) camera is only useful if the guard actually uses it. Best practices:

• Learn the preset positions — most systems store named views (e.g., "main gate," "loading dock," "row C") so the guard can jump to a key view with one command rather than panning manually
• Do not park the camera on one view — cycle through presets on a routine, especially during low-activity hours
• Zoom sparingly — a zoomed-in view covers a tiny area; zoom out after inspecting a detail so the camera returns to wide coverage
• Track suspects smoothly — avoid sudden large movements that lose the subject; use the slowest speed that keeps them in frame

A PTZ left in one position all shift is effectively a fixed camera — and a waste of its capability.

---

Privacy Considerations

Cameras must not be placed where people have a reasonable expectation of privacy:

• Restrooms, change rooms, locker rooms
• Medical or first-aid rooms
• Areas where personal conversations are expected (e.g., break rooms in some jurisdictions)

Audio recording is even more restricted than video in most provinces and states. The client's policy and applicable privacy law set the rules; if you are unsure whether a camera position is allowed, raise it with a supervisor rather than operating it anyway.

---

Alarm Systems

An alarm system is a network of sensors connected to a monitoring panel. When a sensor is triggered, the panel signals an activation — locally (siren, panel display) and often remotely (to a monitoring centre or the guard's radio).

Common Sensor Types

• Motion sensors — detect movement in a protected area (passive infrared, microwave, or dual-tech)
• Contact sensors — detect a door or window opening (magnetic reed switch)
• Glass-break sensors — detect the sound or vibration of breaking glass

Detailed coverage of sensor technology, wiring, and testing is in Module 6. For Module 3A, you need to know what each type detects and how to respond to activations.

---

Responding to Alarm Activations: Verify, Do Not Assume

The cardinal rule of alarm response is: verify, do not assume an activation is false.

Most activations are caused by environmental factors (wind, animals, equipment vibration, user error), but a guard who treats every activation as false will eventually ignore a real intrusion. The correct response:

1. Note the activation — zone, sensor type, time
2. Check CCTV first if a camera covers that zone
3. Respond in person if no camera covers it or the camera shows nothing — do not radio "false alarm" from the desk
4. Approach cautiously — use the corner-approach technique; do not assume the area is clear
5. Clear the zone before resetting
6. Document every activation, including environmental causes, in the notebook and the alarm log

A guard who resets an alarm without clearing the zone, or who ignores a repeat activation at the same sensor, is both failing the post and creating legal exposure for the client.

---

Footage Retention and Chain of Custody

Recorded footage is evidence, and evidence has rules:

• Retention period — most systems overwrite after a set number of days (commonly 30–90); know your site's retention so important footage is exported before it is lost
• Export immediately when an incident occurs — copy to separate media and label with date, time, camera, and incident reference
• Chain of custody — record who handled the exported footage and when; gaps in custody can make footage inadmissible
• Do not alter — never edit, crop, or enhance footage on the original recording; work from a copy if enhancement is needed
• Access control on the recorder — only authorised personnel should access the DVR/NVR; the guard should not share login credentials

A guard who notices an incident on camera but lets the footage age out and be overwritten has lost the evidence and failed a core CCTV purpose.

---

Documentation of Observations and Incidents

Everything observed through CCTV or alarms must be documented as it would be on patrol:

• Notebook entries with the 5 W's + how, time-stamped to the minute
• Incident reports for any activation that turned out to be a real event or a notable environmental cause
• Alarm log entries for every activation, including the cause found and the action taken
• Preserve footage if an incident may go to court — flag the time range so it is not overwritten