How IP Camera Systems and IP Access Control Systems Increase Safety in Hospitals
By Virginia Fair
The following appeared on NBCLA.com, the website of the Los Angeles NBC affiliate station.
“A man who allegedly dressed as a nurse to fool security personnel was arrested for stealing medical supplies from a Fountain Valley Hospital, police announced Monday. The suspect is accused of stealing from Fountain Valley Regional Hospital three separate times since May.”
Fountain Valley Regional Hospital is not alone. According to the 2012 Crime and Security Trends Survey, underwritten by the Foundation of the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety (IAHSS), the crime rate of hospitals rose by close to 37 percent in just two years, from slightly less than 15,000 in 2010 to over 20,500 in 2012. This increase occurred in all crime categories: larceny, theft, simple assault, vandalism, rape and sexual assault. The highest-ever number of homicides occurred, as well, with 8 reported by responding hospitals.
Interview with Todd Vohs of Holstein AG Services About IP Camera with WDR
by Virginia Fair
In our thirty years of being, Kintronics has had the pleasure of doing business with the armed forces, the education sector, library systems, and businesses of every stripe and niche, not to mention quite a few enterprising individuals intent on monitoring such natural phenomena as:
salmon swimming upstream
seals in underground caves
eagles nesting in trees
Hawks perched in New York City’s famed Washington Square.
However, we rarely get a chance to see any of our IP cameras in action once they leave Kintronics. That was, until we had the pleasure of doing business with Todd Vohs of Holstein AG Services. He’d consulted with Keaton Baker, one of our sales engineers, in February, for suggestions about a camera that would help him overcome lighting problems he was encountering in monitoring his warehouse out in Iowa. Keaton recommended an IQ862, a camera with Wide Dynamic Range.
You can record audio and video but be careful of the law.=
by Virginia Fair
These premises are under video surveillance. Convenience stores post this no nonsense warning at their front doors. Banks who display a height chart at their exit door are indirectly issuing the same warning.
This conversation may be recorded for training purposes. Most if not all companies and utilities issue this warning before connecting a customer to a representative.
IP camera surveillance is a given these days. In most cases the camera warnings are intended to warn the “bad guys”, and the recording notice is for “the rest of us.” The majority of people take these messages as givens and the concept rarely registers.
Very low light optical cameras, IR illumination, and thermal cameras are options for seeing in the dark.
It was a dark night with just a small sliver of the moon shining through the trees. The mouse nosed its way through the underbrush using its nose to find small nuts and berries. Unknown to the mouse there was something watching from a tree limb high above. The owl was able to see the mouse clearly even though there was hardly any light. Poor mouse. He had no idea he was in trouble.
How does the owl see in the dark? This article describes the various ways that animals, and more importantly, video cameras can see in the dark. We discuss how cameras make use of the limited light available, IP cameras that use IR illumination and thermal cameras that use thermal imaging technologies.
The latest IP cameras have much better video quality than the early analog CCTV cameras. Even though they both capture video, IP cameras do it dramatically better. The reason; they contain high performance digital processing computers. The computers provide reduced noise, improved wide dynamic range, reduced smearing, and enhanced low light performance.
This article reviews how these processors work and why they are important to the total IP camera system performance.
We have seen more and more incidences on school campuses that involve active shooters. In the wake of this violence many colleges, universities, and elementary schools are searching for ways to respond to this threat.
There has been a lot of discussion about how to react. With the latest tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the discussion continues. Emma Gonzalez, a senior at the high school, provided excellent perspective on the situation when she said, “Since the time of the Founding Fathers and since they added the Second Amendment to the Constitution, our guns have developed at a rate that leaves me dizzy. The guns have changed, but our laws have not”.
Of course, the best way to prevent these tragedies is to prevent the gunman from getting the guns. Unfortunately, it is not easy to do. The only thing we can offer is advice on how technology can help.
Back in 1927 audiences were amazed by the latest motion picture technology. The “Jazz Singer” was the first full-length motion picture to incorporate synchronized dialogue. The new “talkies” had come of age. Today we are seeing the introduction of audio into our video security systems. The confluence of IP cameras, IP intercoms, and IP paging systems are enabling more versatile security and control systems.
IP camera systems have been around since 1996. They changed the way CCTV surveillance cameras transported and recorded the video. IP cameras have included two-way audio for many years, but this capability was not used effectively. Adding audio was not as easy as it appeared. There were many problems to be solved, including audio feedback, background noise, and microphone sensitivity. The addition of special audio filters and feedback control made this technology more viable. Today we see new opportunities created by adding intercoms to IP camera systems. Intercoms can also be integrated with IP door access control readers, providing a complete door control system.
Why should I use an IP camera when the analog cameras are so much cheaper?
That’s a question we get especially from those people who have been using analog CCTV (closed-circuit TV) systems for many years. Actually CCTV has been around for over 45 years. Olean, NY was the first municipality in the US to use cameras on its main street to help reduce crime (according to Wikipedia this was back in 1968).
Not only have the analog CCTV systems been around for a very long time, but they also haven’t really changed from their original capability. Well yes, they have gotten much cheaper, and there are efforts to use higher resolution cameras, but their capability hasn’t changed. The first systems were based on the TV standards established by the National Television System Committee (NTSC). The standard indicated that there should be 525 vertical TV lines, with a frame rate of 30 frames per second. Take a look at our video, How the Video Camera Works.
When most people think of access control systems, they picture authorized personnel using a credential and keypad to gain entry to a secured office building or complex. But did you know door access control can be applied to storage cabinets and drawers as well?
Small electric cabinet locks are ideal for situations where security dictates that certain items not only be kept under lock and key, but also that access be limited to authorized persons. These cabinet locks are just as secure as door control locks yet small enough to mount on cabinets and drawers. Since authorized users must use their access credentials to unlock them, a record is kept of who opened them and when.
In this business era, when companies are focusing on getting the best return on their investment, a sizable number are looking towards extending their use of IP camera surveillance systems beyond security and into overseeing business operations.
According to a recent issue of Security Watch Info, a survey in which IT and video surveillance professionals were asked what their business plans were for video surveillance revealed that 68% of respondents plan to use their IP camera systems for improving operations while 32% planned to restrict their usage to security.
Many retail businesses with more than one outlet, perhaps because they are already familiar with how IP cameras systems and video management software deliver remote real-time multi-screen viewing of several locations, have already made the move.
Managers feel that using the cameras will improve their ability to:
manage multiple locations
monitor everyday business activities
track employees over the course of a day
keep a watchful eye on inventory and sensitive customer and business data
They are particularly fond of VMS’s ability to record and store video and easily access it for future viewing and plant to use it for:
