If you want to stop criminals from damaging your assets, there is only one formula for success. You have to detect the intruders as early as possible, assess their activity as a threat as early as possible, and then delay them until law enforcement arrives with enough people and equipment to stop them.
Because the law enforcement response time is usually a significant factor, you need to get them started as early as possible: hence the early detection and assessment of the threat. You can’t do this unless you have a video surveillance system with live, trained operators.
Previously, network connection often made live CCTV monitoring prohibitively expensive, so many asset owner/operators would record the intrusion on a network video recorder, and then provide the video to law enforcement later, swelling their collection of ‘unidentifiable masked intruders wearing hoodies’ videos.
AI-powered object identification allows potential threats to be identified on the site, saving network costs. If an intruder is seen approaching the site, the object ID function will open a live feed to the monitoring centre, who will then assess the threat, and take the actions required by the asset owner/operator. This would likely include calling the police, and then the asset owner/operator.
Live video monitoring can be as simple as installing a video surveillance system and having a third-party service monitor the feeds when there is an incident occurring. The cost of this service is usually pretty small.
Part of the live video monitoring service includes ‘talk down.’ This enables the operator to talk directly to the intruders using a loudhailer. Some configurations include a strobe light. This combination of voice and a strobe light tell the intruder that the police are on the way, which is usually enough to stop the attack.
If anyone would like more information on live video monitoring, or just wants to see video of intruders caught in the act of cutting a substation fence and then fleeing when the operator turns on the strobe light, please contact me.