Someone’s Watching

As domestic security concerns mount throughout the nation, video surveillance will be stepped up.

By Michael Doan, Senior Associate Editor, The Kiplinger Letter

August 3, 2007

Video surveillance will soon become ubiquitous in the U.S., despite most Americans' innate dislike of being watched. More cameras will be mounted in airports, train stations, stores of all types as well as on streets and highways across the nation. New York City, for example, plans to increase street cameras from 120 to 3,000.

Privacy concerns are being trumped by security needs. Six years after 9/11, America is taking a lesson from Europe, where cameras are more pervasive and often play key roles in thwarting and capturing terrorists.

New technology is helping to allay Big Brother fears. Today's surveillance cameras don't necessarily always have to be on. They can be triggered when a sensor is tripped in a sensitive area, only during large public gatherings or at other specific times.

Web-based systems make footage more useful than in the past, allowing security officials all over the world to share information in real time. "At a security center in New York, you can view locations in Singapore and London in real time," says John Hughes, marketing manager of GE Security. "Or you can call up past events quickly." Hours of footage can be transmitted over closed computer networks, with access protected by passwords.

Other technological enhancements allow law enforcement authorities to zoom in closely on, say, an object left behind in a building or to focus in a particular aisle of a store. Digital systems can count people or cars automatically, and also, infrared cameras can enhance surveillance capabilities in the dark. Moreover, today's camera images are much clearer than older versions.

More and more businesses are buying surveillance gear. Large retailers find them useful for defending against lawsuits by customers who might, for example, allege that they were hurt in a store. Manufacturers are gearing up to use them on assembly lines to figure out how to speed up production. Bars see them as a way to keep an eye on rowdy customers, providing them with a record of bar fights, for example.

Firms are also relying on cameras to study customer behavior and to survey how long customers have to wait in lines. They can also be used to find customers who take an item off a shelf, then try to pawn it off as a return. Cameras can also help train new employees by showing them how more experienced colleagues handle certain situations.

Surveillance gear is much cheaper than it used to be. It's possible for a small business to get a complete set of cameras and computer equipment for between $2,000 and $3,000. Prices will double if you also need in setting up and managing the equipment.

With interest growing in both the public and private sectors, the video surveillance business is becoming the fastest-growing area of the security industry, with $6 billion a year of sales and growth rates of 10%-15% per year in the U.S. forecast through at least 2010. Major companies include GE Security, Pelco, Panasonic and ADT Security Services.

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