CCTV Installation – Common Mistakes and Solutions

CCTV is of a lot of use nowadays for government and semi-government agencies, public and private organizations, as well as individuals from the point of view of better security and prevention of crimes and offensive activities. However installation of CCTV is not that easy; rather it can be problematic sometimes. The problems include getting a truly reputable company, deciding whether the quotes are matching the quality of work, understanding the need, assurance about satisfaction of all lawful requirements, and so on.

Here are some common mistakes done while installing CCTV and the solutions to avoid them.

• Perhaps the biggest mistake committed by organizations or people while installing a CCTV is choosing an incorrect lens which cannot produce images that suits the purpose. As a result the images are too small to identify. Here you even cannot zoom in millions of images you get on your CCTV camera. The popular lens of 1/3” 3.6mm offers facial identification at the distance of only 3.2 meters. Therefore if you set it on a height of 5 meters, you cannot identify the faces.

Solution: While choosing the lens, watch out carefully the distance at which each lens offers best facial identification. You can use a varifocal lens if possible which makes it easier to regulate the view while installation of the system.

• It can be at times hard to decide if the company who has offered the lowest quote will do the best work or not. Therefore it is often seen that the lowest quote is preferred in order to at least save some money. But this acts totally in opposite way, because about 70% to 80% of the CCTV system cannot fulfill the police standards and the money, instead of being saved, is wasted.

Solution: It is better to appoint a good consultant to decide whether the work offered for the quotes is of high quality or not. If the consultant gives a nod to any company, it can be chosen, and your money won’t be wasted. There are a lot of reputable companies online which offer this service free or for some charges.

• If you don’t know thoroughly about the legal requirements of CCTV installation, you may install an unlawful system. This contains largely the issue of data protection. E.g. if an extra-marital affair of a husband was opened on a wife because of a CCTV camera in a departmental store and she divorces him for a gigantic amount, he can definitely sue the departmental store for that amount. Therefore you should know each and every clause of the legal requirement of CCTV installation laid by your governmental body.

Solution: Here an expert in the legal requirements should be consulted with and the installation should be made according to his or her advice.

• While installing the CCTV, its design is often not up to the mark. This is because it is according to the salesperson who designs it. The company too fails to give an assurance about a quality design.

Solution: Here too you can appoint a good counselor company to monitor whether the design is good or not.

Thus if you take due precautions before installing CCTV cameras, you can get the most out of the system and it will serve its purpose truly.