CCTV System for Gold Storage Facility - Case Study Example

CCTV system for gold storage facility Student Name Institution Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction………………………………………………………………………3 2.0 Level one………………………………………………………………………….3 2.1 Requirement………………………………………………………………3 2.2 The site plan………………………………………………………………4 2.3 Statement of the problem…………………………………………………4 2.4 Stakeholders………………………………………………………….…...5 2.5 Risk assessment………………………………………………………..….5 2.6 Success criteria…………………………………………………………....5 2.7 Solution…………………………………………………………………...6 3.0 Level two………………………………………………………………………….6 3.1 The purpose of observation……………………………………………….6 3.2 The target speed…………………………………………………………...7 3.3 Operational issues…………………………………………………………7 3.4 The system requirements…………………………………………………..8 3.5 Display…………………………………………………………………….8 3.6 Recording………………………………………………………………….8 3.7 The Archive………………………………………………………………..9 4.0 Management issues………………………………………………………………...9 4.1 Constrains………………………………………………………………….9 4.2 Legal issues………………………………………………………………..10 4.3 Maintenance……………………………………………………………….10 4.4 Resources………………………………………………………………….11 5.0 System specifications……………………………………………………………...11 6.0 Installation…………………………………………………………………………13 7.0 Commissioning and handover……………………………………………………..14 8.0 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………14 References……………………………………………………………………………..15 Appendices…………………………………………………………………………….16 Introduction The primary use of CCTV systems is to offer surveillance on commercial and private properties. However, in the current world, they have been used in games to record the sporting activities, monitoring medical processes and in industrial production. There are two main types of CCTV systems; wireless and wired security systems. The wired systems cannot be hacked by an external source unless hacked from inside which is very difficult since the monitoring officers are always on the look. The wireless system is very easy to install since one does not need to understand the wiring system of the building. It is also neat because cables will not be everywhere in the facility. However, they have the disadvantages of being hacked by an external source. There are unique components of the CCTV systems. Cables connect all the systems together, a video camera is used to record the motion of pictures; there must be a display monitor where officers control the system and CCTV cameras that are used to collect still images. The advantages of CCTV systems is monitoring all the activities in a facility or organization with minimal employees for surveillance, the images are recorded for future review, they are reliable and it is important in deterring criminals (Fuentes, L. & Velastin, S. 2004). The paper that follows illustrates how CCTV system will be installed to monitor a gold storage facility. Level one Requirement Before installation of any CCTV system it is important to define the nature of threat or problem that is present for it to be resolved by CCTV systems (Cohen, N., Gattuso, J., & MacLennan-Brown, K. 2009). On this case, the CCTV system is required for the surveillance of gold facility. Gold is very expensive and criminal may be tempted to break in. The building has other safety controls such as bullet proof storage facilities, the walls are reinforced by thick steel materials, all areas are also protected by detectors and alarms and persons entering the facilities have to pass through a system that has employees database. However, although the storage is building is equipped with high security measures, monitoring on the movement and activities inside and outside gold storage facility is very important to heighten security. The site plan To have an operational system, the site plan must be constructed to help in installation of the system. The more details the better since it will help to indicate where the lighting system, the cameras and monitoring system (EMCO, Division of Intertest, Inc,. 1990). The gold facility is in between the office and workshop. There is also a car park and a slide gate between the gold facility and the office. The monitoring system should be placed in the office while cameras should be placed in the parking areas, the sliding gate, the workshop on fence behind the workshop and that behind the gold facility. Appendix 1 indicates the site plan. Statement of the problem As mentioned earlier, gold is very precious and expensive and therefore some of the threats include theft, entry by unauthorized people, controlling crowd and for public safety. These threats are present on the entrance and areas behind the gold facilities. These areas are marked in the site plan in appendix 2. Stakeholders The installation of the system will require several people from the management who will assist in determining the important locations of camera mounting, CCTV technicians to assist in installation and training members on how to maintain the system and lastly the company will require a highly trained monitoring officer to work in the monitoring section. Risk assessment Considering the value of the gold in the storage facility the likelihood of theft taking place is very high. Monitoring will therefore help reduce the likelihood of theft taking place. The consequence of theft without system installation is loss of billions of dollars, the company would go need to refund customers who have deposited their gold with us which will be very costly and the company will lose its reputation on safety of gold. The consequence would be a long term impact since the company would take years to recover or even never recover again due to the high losses. Success criteria If an intruder or an action of theft is detected using the CCTV system, the best action would be identifying the intruder which will help identify the next step of action (Fan, S. 2014). In case of theft, preventing the action to happen would be the best action since the activity may bring a huge loss if the criminal is not identified or if not caught. The success of the system will be determined by its operation all the time and not based on a single successful incidence. Solution Although the gold storage facility has other measures for security such as good lighting system, protection barriers using fences, intruder detection alarm systems and having slide doors to storage entrance, CCTV system remains as the main appropriate solution to avoid theft. In addition, the system will help in other aspects such as security, deterring intruders and helping in crime investigation. In crime investigation, the CCTV footage will assist the police to find the criminal behind theft if it occurs. The video recording can be used in court as evidence of theft or intrusion in the gold facility. This will help recover any loss incurred as well as prevention of such activity occurring again (Fuentes, L. & Velastin, S. 2004). After completing level one of the requirements of the need to have the system, the next necessary procedure is level two. Level two This section will help to answer questions such as “who do I need to see?” “Where do I need to see the person?” and “why do I need to see the person?” This will help to identify the type of camera required and the nature of activity to be observed. The purpose of the cameras will be controlling and monitoring the activities around and inside the facility. These types of camera will have the capability of monitoring the number of individuals entering the premises, the direction and speed of individuals and indicating the presence of a person. The purpose of observation The key threat that the company need to eliminate is theft. Therefore the purpose of the images will be monitoring people accessing the facility as well as recognizing those that are coming in. The cameras needed for controlling and monitoring movement may have a lower level of image height than that one of recognizing/identifying the individuals. The target speed The speed is always very important when it comes to frame-rate required. There are CCTV cameras that record events in real time but require high storage facility which have high memory space. The system in gold storage facility does not need to record all events as it happens because the essence is to monitor and control theft. High frame rate recording will be appropriate in this facility (Fuentes, L. & Velastin, S. 2004). A system that have a recording speed of 12 fps will help to monitor people going through the door and those operating close or inside the facility. Operational issues The system will be operated by a specialized CCTV technician. The person will be responsible of monitoring the system during the day and checking the activities that took place at night. In case of any maintenance issues, the individual will have the authority from the management to fix the problems. In the control room, they will be a screen where are live events will be displayed. Inside the control room, there will be a phone that is directly connected to the manager’s office. In case an event of theft or any other unwanted activity happens, the monitoring officer will call the manager immediately. The manager will then take the next action of either contacting the police officers or capturing the criminal using the company security officers. The system requirements After all the operation procedures and observation requirements for the location have been identified, the next action is defining the recording and display system. Alert function The CCTV systems need to be integrated to the alert system already existing in the entrance sliding gate and the door to the gold facility. This was, the alarm will detect intruders or opening of the door which will then be displayed in the CCTV system. In addition, the CCTV system will have Video Based Detection System (VBDS) which as the capacity to detect motion near or inside the facility (Poole, N., Zhou, Q., & Abatis, P. 2009). In case of any activity, the alert system will produce a lighting signal and a simple audible beep in the control room. Since the system is meant to record all the activities during the day and night, the monitoring officer can observe all activities that happened before the alert system went on. Display There will be a total of five cameras and five screens placed in the control room. The system will require only one monitoring officer who will operate the display system simultaneously. The display will use the modern plasma displays which give clear images and are easy to replace in case of damage. Recording The CCTV will use digital recording technology that uses hard drives just like those ones in computers. This will make sure that infinite data is recorded for several days before being overwritten. It is recommended that the retention period of the video be around 31 days for busy places like the city (Cohen, N., Gattuso, J., & MacLennan-Brown, K. 2009). However, since this is a private facility where the system is only used to monitor and control movement, a retention period of 14 days will be appropriate. This will give administration time to view videos in case of an event of theft. Furthermore, the monitoring officer will be responsible to ensure that he reviews all the activities that have taken place after 24 hours. To reduce the risk of failure of hard drives, the system will also integrate Redundant Array of Independent Discs (RIAD) systems which help in duplicating data into other storage systems. In case the primary hard drive fails, the data can be obtained in the secondary storage discs. The archive It is advisable that the system should provide a means of creating permanent recording of the activities. The monitoring officer will ensure that all events recorded by the hard drive are copied to DVD storage systems before the information is overwritten. The DVD will be for exporting images and videos of not more than 10 minutes. Where huge data or long video required USB devices will be applicable (Poole, N., Zhou, Q., & Abatis, P. 2009). Management issues Constrains In Australia, the Australian Security Industry Association Limited is concerned in the licensing of CCTV systems. For this reason they are part of the stakeholders in consultation process. Before installation of the system in our gold storage facility the company will first need to get a license from ASIA (ASG - Integracom. 2016). Legal issues Apart from the licensing of the CCTV systems, there are storage regulations that the facility must comply with (ASG - Integracom. 2016). This includes the Data Protection Act (1998) which guides on the use of personal information. Individuals will have an obligation of information depending on the Freedom of information Act (2000). However, procedures need to be followed before accession the information which are guided by The Human Rights Act (1998), The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (2000), The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act (1994), The Police and Criminal Evidence Act (1984), The Protection from Harassment Act (1997), The Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act (1996), The Magistrates Court Rules (1981) and The Magistrates Court Act (1980) (Cohen, N., Gattuso, J., & MacLennan-Brown, K. 2009).. All operations of the CCTV systems should comply with the above mentioned laws are regulations. The administration will need to be aware of each regulations and understand what they are supposed to do if need arises. Maintenance The maintenance activities that will be taking place regularly include cleaning of lenses, cameras and screens, replacing and repairing any damaged parts, checking the warrants of equipments, maintaining the camera location, upgrading the systems if need be and ensuring the safety and health of persons involved in all these activities. It will be the duty of the control officers to conduct all the activities. However, he/she will need to get an authorization from the administration. Resources Apart from the direct cost of purchasing the system, other cost that will be incurred will be that of hiring of expert to work in the control system, construction of control room will also require resources, there will also be cost of maintaining, managing and maintaining the system and other equipments such as furniture, Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) and black recording media (Poole, N., Zhou, Q., & Abatis, P. 2009).. The organization shall set apart these cost or take a bank loan in case the resources required are urgent and there are no funds left to conduct the activity. The person hired for control room shall be entitled to a monthly salary which shall be discussed upon his/her hiring. System specification Lighting It is always important to maintain lighting over the scene that is being monitored. Artificial lighting will be required during the night. The organization will have to place floodlight which will help illuminating objects. During the day, natural light will be used for illuminating. Caution should be taken because the lenses can be affected by reflection from mirrors and pools of water. In addition bright lighting falling on the lens can cause flare especially during bright days or cloudy nights when supplementary lighting is switched on. Lens hoods will therefore be required to be placed on top of the lens. Scene contrast Even lighting is appropriate for the scene since extreme levels results to poor imaging. The ratio that is recommended for the scene is 3:1. This will be the duty of the control officer to ensure that the right contrast is achieved. Extreme high lighting makes the images appear as silhouette while too dark conditions may make it difficult to distinguish the various objects in the scene. Cameras There are different types of cameras from bullet, pan-tilt-zoom, vandal resistant colour, covert, indoor outdoor, dome to professional for the CCTV systems. The two major components in either camera are the lens and sensor element. These are the two components that define the capability of the camera (Fuentes, L. & Velastin, S. 2004). The positioning and maintenance of the cameras determine how effective they will be. The company will purchase two types of cameras; the indoor and outdoor cameras. The floodlight will make sure that the cameras work well at night and the normal lighting during the day will be appropriate. Camera 1 This camera will be placed on a post above the car packing area. The purpose of the camera will be to monitor and control individual coming to the area using cars. This will be an outdoor camera of vertical height of 100.4 and horizontal length of 16.0 m. the lens used will be of doom 360 o. Camera 2 This will be similar to camera 1. This camera will be placed on a post above the car packing area. The purpose of the camera will be to monitor and control individual coming to the area using cars. This will be an outdoor camera of vertical height of 100.4 and horizontal length of 16.0 m. the lens used will be of doom 360 o. Camera 3 The purpose of the camera will be controlling and monitoring person entering or leaving form the gold facility to the administration area using the sliding door. It will also help in restriction persons entering the gold storage facility. It will be positioned on the top of the processing unit building. Its specifications will be 0.25 inch image, 7mm focal length and a fixed lens. Camera 4 The camera will be placed in the gold storage facility. This will be the place with the highest risk possible. Camera will require high resolution with lens of 1omm focal length for the purpose of identification. The image sensor will be 2.8 in height and a ratio of 4:3. The camera will be connected to the alert system designed to alert the control officer and security personnel by a sound on their mobile phones. Camera 6 The purpose of this camera will be monitoring the open space between the workshop and gold storage building. It will have an image sensor of 0.5 with ratio of 4:3. The camera will assist in detecting any fishy activities taking place outside the gold facility. The field of view of vertical height 52.0 and horizontal length of 80.0 will assist in identifying individuals on the open space. Camera 5 The camera will be placed on a pole 3m above the fence area. It will be located behind the gold facility building. The lens image senor will be of 0.50 inches with a ratio of 4:3. The focal length will be 27.0 which will assist in detecting the early stages of intrusion. Lens The lens will be purchased separately from the cameras. It is therefore important to ensure that the two will be compatible. In addition the lenses that will be chosen will be those that can be easily be replaced and accessed if damaged. In case of changing of the lighting conditions such as direct light from the sun, the lens shall be tilted electronically using remote control. The focal length of the lens will be capable of giving a field of view of between 5-10% of the screen height. Transmission The company will utilize the wired method of transmission owing to its advantage that it cannot be hacked by an external source. The coaxial cable system will be utilized using the standard cables of RG59. System design specifications The contractor will be provided with all the specifications of the entire system. The information will include the type of cameras required, the focal length of the lens and the specific location of the camera that is, the height, the purpose of the surveillance, the plan of the location, the lighting system and the display system to be installed. System test specification Upon the handover of the system, the management together with the control person will test whether the system has met the specifications given to the contractor. If the some specifications are not met, the contractor will be asked to give explanation of the reason to change the specifications. The alteration will be included in the plan or the contractor will be asked to give the right requirements. Installation The installation process will begin with planning then the cable will be installed accordingly. After the cables, the hardware will be mounted in their right locations for instance cameras in gates and inside the gold storage facility. The devices will then be documented to indicate the company used to install. One copy will remain with the organization and the other one will be held by the installing company. Commissioning and handover This is the last step of CCTV system installation. The commissioning shall involve testing of the installed system by the control technician. Handover will involve demonstration of the working of the system to the management and thereafter the management shall accept the installation of the system by signing. Conclusion CCTV systems are mostly used for surveillance although the technology is now being use in medical sector to monitor operations and also in games to record matches. The system is of either wired or wireless. The gold storage facility shall require installation of the system to control and monitor theft of the precious commodity. The wired system will be purchased from trusted contractor and installation will be in accordance to the plan of the area. Thereafter, the organization shall have one control officer who will be responsible for maintaining the system, providing recorded videos and images in case of an event and monitoring activities inside the storage facility while in the control room. References Cohen, N., Gattuso, J., & MacLennan-Brown, K. (2009). CCTV operational requirements manual. St Albans: Home Office Scientific Development Branch. EMCO, Division of Intertest, Inc,. (1990). CCTV camera system. NDT & E International, 23(4), 247. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0963-8695(90)90991-q Fan, S. (2014). Design and Implementation of Integrated Management System for CCTV Sites. The Journal Of Korean Institute Of Information Technology, 12(10). http://dx.doi.org/10.14801/kitr.2014.12.10.75 Fuentes, L. & Velastin, S. (2004). Tracking-based event detection for CCTV systems. Pattern Anal Applic, 7(4), 356-364. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10044-004-0236-z Poole, N., Zhou, Q., & Abatis, P. (2009). Analysis of CCTV digital video recorder hard disk storage system. Digital Investigation, 5(3-4), 85-92. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.diin.2008.11.001 Requirements for Security Technicians - ASG - Integracom. (2016). Asgintegracom.com.au. Retrieved 30 April 2016, from http://asgintegracom.com.au/requirements-for-security-technicians/1:79/ Appendix Appendix 1: overview of site plane Appendix 2: location of cameras as screen Read More