Richmond Alarm News Blog

Reduce Crime at Businesses with Quality Surveillance Systems that are Regularly Maintained

A recent piece on NBC 12 in Richmond profiled a store owner who uses high quality video cameras to monitor his property and surrounding areas. The store owner finds that the money spent on a quality surveillance system gives him security he would not have with a bargain-camera.

What is the Difference Between a Professionally Installed Surveillance System and a Camera System from a Big Discount Store?

Corey Boggs, Operations Manager at Richmond Alarm Company, says that the biggest difference is that cameras sold in most large discount stores are not commercial grade, they are consumer grade. That means they are not designed to run 24/7 and typically do not have a long life.  Warranties are typically shorter and there is no repair process so downtime could be an issue.

Additionally, when a camera system is designed and installed by professionals, they take into consideration the environment, field of view, lighting, and other conditions that can affect the quality of the camera image. 

Not all cameras are created equal and not all cameras will work in all conditions. Professional design helps to ensure that the property is protected properly and the images will be reliable and usable. Oftentimes when police are called to the scene of a robbery, they find the images of cheap camera systems to be too dark or blurry and are not much help in identifying the suspect.

Regular Maintenance of Surveillance Equipment

Police encourage businesses to keep their systems maintained. Check the recordings, check the focus, make sure there is enough lighting near the camera, and clean them regularly. Often, the first time many business owners look at or adjust their camera system, after the initial installation, is when there has been an incident! This is too late.

‘It's good to have all those things in place, so when robberies happen we'll be able to apprehend those suspects,’ said Richmond Police Lt. Ronnie Armstead.”

CCTV versus Video Monitoring

Closed circuit television (CCTV) is useful to monitor and digitally record activities. This video surveillance is useful after a robbery to use as evidence in identifying and prosecuting suspects. It can be monitored by you or your representatives on your property, but it is typically not monitored by a security company (although it is possible with IP connectivity). Richmond Alarm recommends a product called Videofied. This system consists of an inconspicuous, portable and wireless Motion Viewer that triggers a signal to our monitoring station, in the event of activity in the protected area. Our monitoring professionals are trained to recognize actual threats versus non-threatening or “false” alarms such as animals or wind-blown debris. In the event of an actual threat, police are notified and often catch the crooks in the act. 

To have your CCTV system looked at or cleaned up, give our service department a call at 804-858-0106.

Bloomberg Businessweek Article

Don’t think copper theft affects you? Do you have power to your home or business, use a cell phone, fly commercial flights, ride Amtrak, pay taxes? Then you are indirectly being ripped off by thieves who steal mass amounts of copper and take it to metal recycling centers for cash.

For every $1 worth of copper stolen, it can cost up to $25 to repair the damage copper theft causes. However there is a solution,  localities using Videofied are catching crooks in the act and getting them off the street, as well as shutting down illegally run recycling centers.

After NBC 12 featured Richmond Alarm’s COO and our RSI Videofied product, Dan Gelinas at Security System News wrote about and quoted Corey Bogg’s regarding  connection to police departments in Central Virginia. Richmond Alarm is demonstrating to local law enforcement the enormous benefit the Videofied product can offer in catching criminals and prevent calls for false alarms.

Criminals are not aware sites are monitored so they get caught!

With Videofied, potential thieves or vandals do not hear or see an alarm signal so they get no ‘heads up’ to run. Police can often make arrests at the scene, or get a good idea what he or she looks like, to make an arrest soon after.  Criminals are not just scared away and free to try a different, unmonitored location since they are often caught in the act.

How Videofied minimizes false alarms

False alarms are reduced because our monitoring station can see what caused the signal or if there is any unusual activity at the monitored location. This is a significant benefit to officers who are frequently called to false security alarms, temporarily distracting them from pressing criminal and safety concerns in the community.
Richmond Alarm is unique in communities of Central Virginia because we develop relationships with police and support their efforts to protect all of us. Our experienced technicians are exceptional at reducing the number of installation and service errors that can cause false alarms. At Richmond Alarm, we live and work in the communities we serve and we want police to focus on the real problems, not snipe hunting on false alarm calls.

Prevent copper thefts from construction sites, rooftop air conditioners, substations and cell towers. RSI Videofied can protect your valuable equipment and help catch criminals. Local police departments and municipalities are using Videofied to prevent costly vandalism and thefts.

RSI Videofied is a monitoring system triggered by motion. When a sensor detects motion in a monitored area, it begins taking photographs every 10 seconds and sends the images to monitoring station operators. The operators can see the reason for the alarm signal and if it shows an intruder, officers are silently dispatched so intruders are caught, without light or sound alerting them to their detection. False alarms are also decreased because the operator sees what triggered the sensor before alerting police.

RSI Videofied is a totally wireless video security system with an integrated night vision camera that sends images over a cell network to the Richmond Alarm Central Monitoring station and the customers’ building or site manager. There can be up to 24 cameras in one location to monitor all different areas of a facility.

Contact Corey Boggs at Richmond Alarm for a free demonstration of how Videofied can help you prevent theft and vandalism.