Bank Sees Digital Dividends

Mar 1, 2004 12:00 PM

Liberty Bank and Trust serves more than 40,000 customers at 10 locations in Louisiana and one in Mississippi. Large customers include American Express, the City of New Orleans, and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Protecting the banks' assets and those of its customers has been the greatest priority for Aaron McDonald, assistant vice president and director of corporate security, who has worked for Liberty for 29 years. As director of corporate security, he had the responsibility of researching, testing and recommending a new digital video surveillance system for all 11 of the Liberty Bank locations as well as 19 ATMs, including remote locations.

A digital video surveillance system offers easier management of multiple locations with fewer personnel. A digital system also eliminates the prospect of degraded tape quality or a camera view out of focus.

“We acknowledged that the switch to digital was inevitable due to the drawbacks of VCR tape,” McDonald says. “The advantages of the digital systems like greater flexibility, better picture quality and easier management of video data were all factors in the decision.”

McDonald chose a Lanex digital video system from Verint Video Solutions, a provider of digital video security, surveillance and business intelligence solutions. Today, more than 20,000 Lanex brand video surveillance and interface systems are in service across the country.

The computer-based video surveillance recording and retrieval system automatically captures, digitizes and compresses high-resolution video images of various types of transactions and events. The images can be stored on the hard disk of a PC, where they can be accessed either on-site or remotely via a point-and-click Windows interface. The remote capability allows retrieved images to be enhanced, printed, faxed and e-mailed. The greatest advantage may be the ability to make the taped images available to law enforcement in a timely manner.

“It's in investigations where the system has helped us the most,” McDonald says. “Now we can review tape remotely, and we don't have to go through a whole tape looking for a particular sequence of events.”

Verint's software integrates software with typical banking systems such as ATMs and teller operations and can accommodate up to 16 camera inputs from cameras positioned at critical points around each facility — inside, at the drive-thru and at ATM locations.

“We can immediately e-mail digital images to other branches and to law enforcement. This can mean a savings in man-hours for the bank and can also mean the difference between apprehending a criminal suspect and recovering stolen property or allowing too much time to pass after an incident,” McDonald says.

The digital imaging product spans a broad scope of applications. It provides a proactive tool to facilitate loss prevention by quickly and easily retrieving incident video based on motion, event, transaction number and type as well as by time and date.

These features can be used to protect assets at financial facilities, but also enable retail customers to research transactions, examine alarm events, conduct time interval searches and examine motion-only incidents from an embedded operating system combined with “plug and play” POS, asset tracking and access control interfaces.

FOR THE RECORD

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ON LOCATION

Digital Video Goes To The Movies

George Solomon, owner of The Lake Forest Plaza Grand Theater, located in East New Orleans, easily admits, “I don't know much about digital video recording systems but I know the movie business. My family has been in this industry for several generations. They were the founders of Gulf States Theatres, high-quality megaplexes with a number one (national) position in the market.”

When Solomon built The Grand in 2002, he knew he would need to include a reliable and modern security system. He turned to his friend and (coincidently) Liberty Bank President and CEO Alden J. McDonald Jr., who recommended the Verint Lanex system he was using in his banks.

Solomon wanted an effective loss prevention and management tool that operates with a minimum of maintenance and supervision. Rather than add more responsibility to management for the operation of the system, his goal was a system that would free up management and allow them more time to operate the theater and attend to the needs of guests.

“Concessions have become much more significant as a moneymaker and this means we need more sophisticated cash control and inventory control options. It is an unfortunate fact that as the theater business grows, so does the need for more staff and more staff leads to more opportunities for theft.”

The theater is a favorite gathering place for local teens on certain nights, and this increases the need for good visual monitoring of the selling areas, the game rooms and the parking lots. There are two cameras located at each concession and several in the game room. Security cameras are prominent in the parking lots, and the theater has not had a single incident since it opened.

To business owner Solomon, keeping the area safe is of importance to the community. “For my purposes, the video system is most beneficial as a deterrent and it is really doing the job. Shrinkage has been low and no major incidents have developed in or outside of the theater.” Says Solomon, “If it's good enough for the banks, it's good enough for me!”

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© 2008 Penton Media Inc.

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