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Electronic Surveillance

Do you ever get that feeling that you’re being watched? You know, you’re walking or driving along, minding your own business, but you get that feeling that somebody is watching you – well, the chances are that they are – well, not somebody exactly, more like something. Electronic surveillance is everywhere, talk about “big brother”.

Electronic Surveillance

There’s really no need to get all twitchy about it, you see, electronic surveillance isn’t really used to watch you, it’s used to watch where you are. Does that make it a bit better? An electronic surveillance camera might be watching an ATM to make sure that you don’t get mugged while you withdraw your taxi fare home late on a Saturday night (or if you do get mugged, they’ll see who did it), electronic surveillance cameras are in the streets, they’re in the stores, and increasingly often, people are using them to protect their homes.

Advances in Electronic Surveillance

Electronic surveillance has been used for years as a part of security and law enforcement, but whereas they used to be pretty expensive and need a human to operate the electronic surveillance equipment, these days that really isn’t necessary and they are fully automatic. If any of the footage does need to be analysed, then automated software can make the task much easier by breaking the digital footage into fully searchable database. Some of these really clever electronic surveillance equipment makes the job a whole lot easier, reducing the footage drastically because they are operated by motion sensors – ah, that’s better than watching 8 hours worth of nothingness before you see a glimpse in the shadows.

Who Uses Electronic Surveillance

• Governments and Law Enforcement Agencies – the use of electronic surveillance cameras has increased dramatically.  The Department of Homeland Security in the United States gives billions of dollars every year in Homeland Security grants, so that state, local and federal agencies can install plenty of electronic surveillance equipment. In the UK over the last 10 years, for example, it has dramatically increased  with many businesses now utilizing surveillance equipment. Apparently, there are more than 4 million surveillance cameras now in the UK, that’s about 1 for every 14 people. Makes you think doesn’t it. Speed cameras probably make up for a large amount of them.  In fact, you could say that electronic surveillance equipment has got just about the whole developed world covered.
• Stores and Businesses – security is of paramount importance for any kind of business, and electronic surveillance equipment is used to try to deter shoplifters from making off with millions of dollars worth of goods every year. Are they working? Who knows how much stuff they’d get away with without all of the electronic surveillance equipment?
• Private Homes – millions of people have electronic surveillance equipment on their homes, often wired in to security firms or the local police station. It really does help people to sleep soundly at night, knowing (or hoping) that they’ve done all that they can to keep their homes, property and their families safe.