Controversial, But Capable

Sep 1, 2005 12:00 PM, By Jacqueline Emigh

YOU WOULD ALMOST THINK that one of the “Cs” in “CCTV” stands for “controversial.” Even as privacy advocates complain about the growing use of closed-circuit television technology, physical security professionals are finding new ways that video surveillance can be a useful weapon against crimes ranging from trespassing to pickpocketing to terrorist bombing attacks.

CCTV can be as vulnerable as it is effective. Because security cameras are relatively small, and often visible in public, they are particularly prone to tampering and theft, for example. Fortunately, vendors have devised increasingly effective ways to safeguard the cameras. Furthermore, newer digital CCTV systems add a variety of new features, too.

“CCTV isn't just ‘television with VCR’ anymore,” says Paul Kelly, president of Seattle Surveillance Systems, a CCTV distributor in Seattle.

Suppliers still sell traditional analog surveillance systems — particularly to users concerned about cost; but newer digital systems now store video on computer-based hardware instead of videotape, thus making it faster to locate crucial legal evidence, Kelly says.

Additionally, digital systems can be integrated with the Internet and other computer networks, and new capabilities run the gamut from motion detection and automated alarms to emerging facial recognition.

The public debate over CCTV has recently escalated in the United States, following intense publicity generated by the United Kingdom's government-run CCTV subway cameras.

While CCTV systems may be common and accepted at private companies — ranging from tiny convenience stores to huge corporations — some say government-operated CCTV is another matter. Nevertheless, the ongoing aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, U.S. cities such as Washington D.C., Chicago, New York, Baltimore and New Orleans are turning to CCTV systems in public places to one extent or another.

In August, for example, Creative Vista Inc., Whitby, Ontario, announced implementation plans around its own digital video surveillance system at a “large metropolitan police department in Michigan State.”

Aside from thwarting crime and terrorism, CCTV systems can play a number of other valuable public safety roles, according to advocates.

For example, the National Oceanographic and Aeronautics Administration is using digital video as a remote “lifeguard.” “They want to make sure they know if someone falls overboard,” Kelly says about his customer.

On the front lines in London

The results achieved — and not achieved — by CCTV systems in and around London's subways paint a good picture of why CCTV rises and falls on the strength of its security cameras.

For instance, in the early morning hours on March 24 security guards monitoring cameras at one London subway witnessed the attempted rape of a woman who seemed to be in her early 20s. By the time police made it to the Elephant and Castle stop, a male passerby had thwarted the assault, but the attacker had fled.

Shortly afterward, one of the guards spotted the attacker and pointed him out to law enforcement officials. Once arrested, the 27-year-old suspect pled guilty to one count of “attempting to rape an unknown person.” At a subsequent sentencing hearing, prosecutors played back video that showed the defendant knocking the woman to the ground and trying to pull off her clothes.

In July, an outdoor CCTV system in London drew acclaim for helping to identify four suspects in the July 21 London subway bombings, after print and broadcast TV media published video images of the fleeing men.

The next day, however, vital security cameras at the Stockwell Tube subway station in London apparently were not working when armed police shot and killed an innocent man they wrongly thought to be a suicide bomber.

Attacks on the cameras

Naturally, sex offenders and terrorist bombers would disable or destroy video cameras if they could, but some privacy advocates seem almost as interested in closing CCTV's omnipresent eyes.

One public Web site, for example, presents a detailed “Guide to CCTV Destruction.” Tactics described include covering the camera with a plastic bag filled with glue; placing tape over the camera lens; spraying the camera with a paint gun; cutting the camera cables; and the “block drop” technique, in which a perpetrator climbs to the top of a building and drops concrete blocks on a CCTV camera below, trying to smash the device.

Increasingly, Digital rules CCTV systems can vary greatly. Essentially, these systems consist of analog and/or digital CCTV security cameras, display hardware and a mechanism for storing video footage — usually VCRs for analog systems and DVRs (digital video recorders) for digital systems.

Essentially, the difference between an analog CCTV camera and a digital CCTV camera is that analog cameras output video in audio waveform format, whereas digital cameras output in computer-friendly digital format, according to Jack Gin, president and CEO of Extreme CCTV, Vancouver, B.C.

All cameras use built-in CMOS or CCD (charge couple device) computer chips for producing images. Digital CCTV cameras combine CCD with DSP (digital signal processing) for onboard conversion to improve the picture as well as to add functionality.

To an increasing degree, vendors are now offering “video servers” and other technologies to change the output of new and existing analog cameras into digital format.

Traditional analog CCTV is a closed-loop system. Once the analog output is digitized, however, it can be streamed out over the Internet or a LAN (local area network) for remote playback virtually anywhere, Gin says.

Like other information sent over the Internet, video runs the risk of hacking attacks. Customers, however, can circumvent this problem with the use of encryption — or information “scrambling” — and other information security techniques, notes Annon Aliphas, chair of GSPx, an upcoming DSP conference to be held in Los Angeles by Global Technology Conferences, Newton, Mass.

On the digital side, there are several types of DVRs. PC-based VCRs include the hardware and software needed for recording, storing and playing back video, as well as video display and network connectivity. Embedded DVRs are smaller standalone devices that contain video and remote network connectivity capabilities in “firmware,” or software encoded on computer chips. Mobile DVRs are embedded DVRs designed for use in vehicles.

Over the past few years, the resolution of CCTV systems has skyrocketed. At the same time, prices of color CCTV security cameras have spiraled downward, meaning that most new CCTV cameras sold today are color systems, as opposed to black-and-white.

Some cameras — whether analog or digital — offer a feature called “night vision,” which uses CCD technology to help provide extra illumination under dark or dim lighting conditions.

Extreme CCTV's infrared night vision has been credited by the local district attorney with helping to solve a murder case in Philadelphia. The company's cameras were originally installed by the Department of Homeland Security for a nearby federal office building, Gin says.

Yet when Patricia McDermott, a hospital technician and the mother of two, became the victim of a sidewalk slaying late one night, video surveillance cameras helped lead police to the arrest of Juan Covington, according to Philadelphia District Attorney Lynn Abraham.

Digital systems typically come with motion detection and automated alarming, too. “You can set up the system to send you an e-mail whenever motion is detected. Then you can fast-forward through the video, from wherever you are,” Kelly says.

Yet another benefit of digital CCTV is that DVRs can also be situated anywhere on the computer network. “So even if a camera is stolen, it might not matter very much. The video will not be on the camera, but somewhere else,” observes Aliphas, who's been working with DSP technology for the past 25 years.

Moreover, digital CCTV can operate with a range of wireless networks, thus ruling out cable-cutting as a tampering ploy. “With analog CCTV, you are limited to RF (radio frequency) wireless,” Gin says. One of Extreme CCTV's customers is now using Motorola's Canopy broadband wireless technology for ultra-capable high-bandwidth communications, for instance.

The technologies are becoming even more sophisticated. For example, Singapore-based Multivision Intelligent Surveillance produces a system for the Londonlines commuter rail system that's equipped with a “non-motion” feature for automatically detecting any packages left unattended.

Another capability, “directional motion sensing,” is aimed at detecting — including people — that are moving in the opposite direction from the main crowd.

Talk of physical and information security convergence is everywhere, but the complex arena of CCTV is one place where these two disciplines are coming together fast and in a big way. How many long-time security professionals ever thought they would be dealing with “non-motion detection,” for example? As technology evolves, security professionals will need to keep on learning.

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Creative Vista Inc.	35
Extreme CCTV	36
Global Technology Conferences	37
Motorola	38
Multivision Intelligent Surveillance	39
Seattle Surveillance Systems	40

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