Have you ever walked into a store that had a monitor showing your picture as you walked into the store? Next time you do, really look at the picture, would anyone really be able to tell that is a picture of you? Is it identifiable? Likely it is not. Many times the monitor will show the whole entrance and you are so tiny that there is no possible way that anyone could identify it is you. But you see this all the time on the news, someone robs a store and the only evidence is a grainy photo of someone entering the store. Can you tell if it is a man or a woman? Can you tell what this photo is showing? Scroll down the link to Jan 10, 2012.
It is so blurry that it is hard to tell that this is a DEER that came through the front door. Using the right camera with the right lens in the right position would have given an amazing video of this animal crashing through the front of the store.
Using a standard security camera of around 540 TV Lines, you can obtain an identifiable image of covering only about 100 square feet. That is why when you enter a bank, you will almost always see one camera per teller and a large number of other cameras placed throughout. Once you try to cover a larger area, you greatly reduce the chance of getting an identifiable image. If you don’t have a decent ID image, it will be very difficult for the police to arrest and or prosecute the suspect.
It is important to note that the use of megapixel cameras vastly increases the size of the area that you can obtain an identifiable image in. However the basic two rules still apply:
1. The smaller the area your camera monitors the better the image will be.
2. Cameras must still be positioned to obtain proper face or profile images.
Another major problem that affects security cameras at the front of a store is the lighting, especially the sunlight that is coming through the front windows. This lighting can cause your interior image to be mostly blacked out while the exterior image is relatively clear. The only thing you see is a picture of a blacked out person with bright white behind them. In this image you can see the problem is the far right photo but the problem is easily resolved with a camera that has Back Light Compensation (BLC) or Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) but preferably both. Cameras with these features are widely available but are slightly more expensive than ones without it. However, the vastly improved result justifies the price difference. Whether you are providing the image to the police or just providing it to your staff to watch out for a specific person, you will need to have a photo that is clearly identifiable.
Another major problem that hinders ID images is baseball caps and hoodies. Check out this photo of a man suspected of peeping in a women’s washroom. His baseball cap stops the camera from getting a good shot of his face and therefore makes it very hard to get a firm ID on him. Hoodies pose the same problem. You cannot help what people wear into your establishment but you can place your cameras low down on the wall to get as much of their face as possible. We recommend getting these ID images as people enter or exit your business as everyone has to use these doors.
One of the single most important parts of your security camera system is having at least one identifiable photo of everyone who enters your establishment. Positioning, Lighting Camera Quality and even clothing can all hinder getting excellent identification pictures but if you do your best to address these factors, your business will be better protected because of it.