Reed Security’s design and installation teams recently met with the Saskatoon Police Service Break & Enter Unit. Thank you Det. Cst. Carter #574 and Det. Cst. Lorette #552 for collaborating with Reed to combat crime.
POLICE & REED SHARE 8 WAYS TO COMBAT THEFT:
1. Video surveillance is the number one security tool the Police use when investigating a crime. Unfortunately, most security cameras are not mounted in locations that can help. A security camera mounted high up in the air overlooking the front of a building is great to partially identify a vehicle and markings, but would be difficult to identify a suspect from so far away.
Instead, mount cameras at Face Level approximately 5 feet from the ground to record the suspects face. Helpful locations for Face Level cameras are entrances. Dome cameras, height strip cameras or other hidden cameras are helpful.
INFRARED ILLUMINATOR
COLORVU
2. Many break-in’s occur in the middle of the night when lighting is poor. Cameras with Infrared Illuminators (IR Nightvision) can see in the dark, but cause a ghosting effect when aimed at a person or license plate. Instead, ensure you have proper lighting at night or install REEDHD™ ColorVu cameras that see in color 24/7.
Note: Recording license plates helps, but license plates are often stolen or the suspect is driving a stolen vehicle.
3. Deter crime before it happens by display warning signage that you have security cameras at your location. Large dogs are also a great deterrent. Most break in's occur when you are away from the premises - so make it look like you are there with proper lighting.
4. When you watch TV do you have the audio muted? Video only tells part of the story. Doorbell cameras and select REEDHD™ cameras have built-in microphones. The Police can listen for names or other clues to identify suspects. Recording audio is legal in Saskatchewan and there are published guidelines to protect privacy in public buildings.
5. Another problem the Police run into is not enough storage on the local NVR recording device. 7-10 days isn’t enough. Minimum 30 days storage is recommended. This can be accomplished by adding hard drives to the network video recorder (NVR), reducing the frames per second, reducing the image quality and recording on motion instead of continuously. Always use surveillance grade hard drives or SD cards. Reed Security has a storage and network calculator that approximates how long you can record for before video is recycled.
6. You can stop crime before it happens with Reed’s Virtual Guard Service. Our guards watch over cameras in real time to catch events as they happen. Intruders are identified, informed they are trespassing via loud speaker and asked to leave immediately. If they don’t leave we dispatch the Police immediately. Visually verified alarms receive the fastest Police response.
7. If you have experienced a break-in, ensure the area is left untouched so the Police can collect fingerprints. Ensure you communicate this to your staff and cleaners. Serial #’s are required to recover stolen goods – so make sure you document them.
8. When archiving an incident for the Police onto a USB stick, make sure you include a Video Player that can play exported video clips. Common video players are VSPlayer and VLCPlayer. If you have a REEDHD™ bundle we take care of this for you and archive the incident directly to cloud storage. The Police can access video directly from our cloud.
Contact REED today for a FREE QUOTE for your Home or Business.
306.653.3200 or 1.844.384.7233
www.reedsecurity.com