Recently, members of the Greyton Neighbourhood Watch, LRV Security and SAPS were invited to visit the very successful Hout Bay Neighbourhood Watch. They have a control room monitoring CCTV cameras that have been installed across the valley and an on-duty monitor interacts with residents, the local security companies and SAPS via cell phone and radio.
LRV then arranged a trip to view independent control rooms in Hermanus and Somerset West. The company provides a remote monitoring service and communicates with the local security companies and SAPS when suspicious activities are detected. It is believed that a monitor can only maintain a steady focus on a set of screens for 20 minutes before fatigue sets in and a change/rotation is needed.
We also visited a new CCTV installation in Rooi Els. That environment has cameras focused on public areas but installed at private residences. Video is fed to a local office used by the Neighbourhood Watch and recorded. Live monitoring at the office is done for a portion of the day. Historical footage is reviewed on return to the office. Residents / Neighbourhood Watch members also have remote viewing facilities. A radio network is used for communication between neighbourhood watch members, the security company and SAPS.
Standard business or home CCTV installations include a recorder with a number of static indoor and/or outdoor cameras. Generally, if the recorder is connected to the internet, one can review live or recorded footage, remotely.
More sophisticated security installations have cameras that can pan, tilt and zoom in a live and well illuminated environment. Similar cameras with thermal capabilities are required for optimal viewing after dark.
A network of cameras would require a private Wi-Fi network using small dish-like antennae mounted on a pole.
The quick and easy escape routes away from the burgled residences and into the bushy surrounds are the main challenges to quickly capturing perpetrators. Most incidents seem to happen on the South East side of the village but there are also issues in the Vlei Street area and there have been intrusions from behind Upper Park road.
The following options are available:
• Home owned installations that allow for a link to the control room.
• Business owned installations that allow for a link to the control room.
• Community owned cameras that are linked to and monitored directly from a control room.
• Monitoring, in a control room, by the local security company
• Monitoring, in a control room, by residents on a roster basis
• Remote monitoring
