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The easiest way to get a free engineering study done is to ask a security company for one.
Almost every security system company in the industry is a member of the IPVM service. These engineering studies cost nothing but staff time for IPVM members
/lightcatch/ipvm_satellite_image_edited.jpg "IPVM Study overhead satellite view")
An engineering study like this places specific cameras at a specific location and then shows how far the camera will be useful in daytime lighting conditions. Everything is to scale and accurate.
A technician can simulate placing the exact make and model of camera on a satellite view of the location.
The software will confirm if that camera will provide the coverage needed.
The study will also show how well each camera will work in daytime conditions as well as in low lighting.
/lightcatch/IPVM_Sample.jpg "IPVM study camera view")
The image of the vehicles at the top left shows the colour and make of the vehicle should be able to be captured at 100ft.
The bottom images show how visible a suspect will be using this specific Uniview camera at 100ft in good lighting or poor lighting.
Companies may be willing to provide this study for free because it can help show the cameras found online, are not as suitable as what the security company can recommend.
The engineering study helps these companies win business.
The studies also help a property owner know which security camera is the best for them.
Effective AI Filters Only Send Alerts For Human Or Vehicle Movement.
I've had cameras owners tell me they can get 1,000 alerts in one night when it is snowing.
By removing all of the false alerts, the volume of alerts become something a human can begin to manage.
This creates a much higher likelihood or responding to a real alert.
The benefit of good AI filtering is so dramatic in reducing false alerts, that almost all cameras without this technology should be considered for an upgrade.
Cameras bought before 2020 are often missing good AI capabilities.
With the right alert plan, any attempt at crime should be managed within 0-20 minutes.
This step is broken down into 4 scenarios.
Those scenarios are nighttime, and then 3 different daytime scenarios.
Nighttime
For most people, the best way to manage alerts at night is to use an alarm panel and to have that alarm panel monitored by a professional monitoring company.
Before going to be the alarm panel is armed or even better, it is scheduled to be armed and unarmed at set times.
This setup will reduce the response rate to seconds or minutes.
Our data shows across thousands of alerts most people can not respond this fast with just security cameras.
An alarm system can also automate crime prevention in ways a security camera can not do.
An alarm system can open the possibility to a being able to leave phone alerts off for the night, the weekend or even 6 months at a time with no worries about a property’s safety.
The free guide 10X Better Than Security Cameras introduces how alarm panels and other automation technologies can transform home safety to levels security cameras can not do.
Day Time – Everyone Is Away - Out of the Home
This should be managed the same as the Nighttime alert plan.
The last one to leave the property arms the alarm panel from their mobile phone.
Home Occupied – One Person Home Alone
Have a primary and backup person responsible for camera alerts. For example, this can be the homeowner and a family member.
The primary person should have their phone set to alert them using both audio and visual push notifications.
When an alert arrives from the security camera system the primary person should try to review the alert within 5 minutes. Anything longer exposes the home to potential risk.
When that alert is reviewed, a comment is put in Telegram channel to communicate that alert has been reviewed.
Others can see the camera alerts are being reviewed but don’t need to act on them.
Home Occupied - Several People Coming and Going
Someone at home should manage these alerts.
Leave the camera alerts off and the Telegram channel silenced.
Respond to alerts only at night or when leaving the home and arming the alarm panel.
Alert Plan Sample
The critical thing with an alert plan is to have one person clearly responsible for the security camera alerts during the day.
A plan helps ensure the good alerts will be responded to within 0 - 20 minutes, preferably before a real crime takes place. This can be done by reporting trespassing or suspicious behavior to the police before any further crimes happen.
A plan also helps everyone else from developing a habit of ignoring alerts.
The person who is at home is usually the best person to be the one person responsible for camera alerts.
Use something like a free Telegram account and create a dedicated channel for the household members, to manage the security camera alerts together.
1) Download the free Telegram chat app
2) Create a channel called Security Alerts
3) Share that channel with anyone who lives in the home or people who will be getting alerts from the security cameras.
4) Have a plan or system where one person is responsible for noting they have seen the alert inside the Telegram channel. This person can simply put the time of the alert in the Telegram channel and an icon like these examples below.
10:12 👀
2:15 ✅
406pm
5) Only when one of the others needs to be the primary alert manager should anyone else have their camera app create visual and audible alerts.
6) Everyone but the primary person can have the Telegram channel set to silent
I hope you find the Case Study of How 16 Cameras All Failed in This Famous TV Commentators $7 Million Home instructive as well as respectful.
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