Learn how teaming up with a reliable surveillance team can help reduce false alarms, raise your security awareness, and save money
State-of-the-art video surveillance is one of the best investments any job site can make. These camera-based systems can repay their initial cost many times over by fighting crime, deterring burglars, and providing potentially lifesaving warnings against accidents.
Visual verification – confirming a security incident through video – adds a second security layer that streamlines the process of evaluating and acting on a threat. This guide will explain what video-verified responses are, what they aim to do, and how they can help your workplace limit exposure to dangers and risks during an emergency.
The value of video verified responses
Let’s start by imagining security without the help of video. You’re a site manager who receives an after-hours alert of what might be a workplace incident such as a fire or a crime in progress. On the one hand, this is good, because you know that whatever alarm system you have in place seems to be working. Statistically speaking, though, this is probably a false alarm triggered by an employee, system failure, interference from animals, or even the weather.
This isn’t always the case, though, and in those instances, employees may endanger themselves by checking what’s happening in person. When you have a surveillance partner who can use video to verify what’s going on at your site, it keeps people at a safe distance, lets managers and first-responders know if the alarm is worth investigating, and enables them to prioritize appropriate action.
Video verification by trained surveillance personnel thus saves a lot of time and effort. It also keeps personnel receiving the notifications more than just connected to their alarms; it keeps them actively engaged as part of their security team. This helps avoid alert fatigue – a “boy who cried wolf” kind of effect where customers become desensitized by false or low-level alarms. That typically causes them to ignore real emergencies that can lead to substantial financial losses or fatalities.
How a lack of verification hurts everyone
We have to expand that point about fatigue to underline how costly false positives can be for consumers, first responders, and society. So many of these alarms ultimately prove not to have been worth the personnel power and time it takes to investigate them. The police and other authorities are already operating under stressful, demanding conditions without having to chase down repeated false alarms.
They can also become desensitized to yet another alert from a retail store or another kind of worksite. Considering that many first response teams are also struggling with fewer people on the job, you’re left with an understaffed, overwhelmed, and jaded force.
This means a legitimate alarm may not trigger the desired immediate response from the authorities and could lead to lost property, site damage, or physical harm to someone on-site. One too many unverified alarms from a site can permanently cause first responders to disregard anything they get from that location.
Some police forces may not even respond without verification of an actual incident. It’s not an ideal situation, but it’s an understandable expectation when all things are considered. You can do your part and better avoid these negative outcomes by making video verification part of your workplace security.
Professional video surveillance means more useful security footage and financial savings
The chances of reliably documenting both the cause of accidents and the perpetrators of a crime can significantly increase with video on-site. This provides valuable visual evidence that both first responders and insurers will be glad to have. It further helps insurance companies verify the legitimacy of any claims of loss or damage.
Verified footage can be the key to getting employers off the hook if an employee fraudulently claims the company is at fault for an injury. Video footage assists law enforcement in better identifying, apprehending, and prosecuting offenders at your site. Thanks to your video verification, they’ll have more time and energy saved for other calls to action.
Video-verified responses save money on yet another false alarm front. Police don’t simply shrug and walk away if they’ve been called out for nothing – states fine businesses that cause false alarms. Here in Maryland, for example, there’s the potential of a $1,000 fine in Baltimore County and up to a $4,000 fine in Montgomery County.
Get security right straight out of the box
There’s an additional factor we didn’t mention that can cause a false alarm: shoddy hardware installation. A poorly installed video surveillance system means your equipment is more likely to produce a false positive (or fail entirely) from day one. Working with a security team that knows how visual security works inside and out is the smartest step toward ensuring surveillance is carefully installed and knowing that any alarm you get is worth somebody’s attention.
The Mobile Video Guard team is experienced in law enforcement and expert in site surveillance. We can contact you by phone, text, or email to alert you if anything has happened on your site. We also empower our customers with remote site access, which means they can see what’s going on themselves, any time and in any place, via their personal digital device.
Contact the video surveillance experts with any questions
Site surveillance radically improves when trained pros are on watch and customers know that being contacted counts for something. The Mobile Video Guard team is experienced in providing customers across multiple sectors with surveillance advice and custom security solutions that work.
We can help you create the surveillance strategy that fits the unique needs of your site or event and puts you in the best position to verify any incident. Contact Mobile Video Guard today and speak with an expert to learn more.
