With premises less occupied during the summer months, burglars and vandals have increased opportunities. Thanks to AI-powered video analytics, alarm receiving centres can enhance their security systems and offer superior protection.

According to Fortune Business Insights, the global video analytics market is growing substantially. Valued at USD 8.37 billion in 2023, it’s set to reach USD 52.67 billion by 2030 – a CAGR of 22.7%. Increasing concerns about security and safety are driving the market’s growth.  

This article explores how using video analytics alongside CCTV monitoring software enables ARCs to deliver expanded services.

What Security Risks Are There in Summer?

Reduced business operations during the summer create an ideal environment for criminal activities, a challenge also faced by educational institutions. Common security challenges during this period include:

• Increased burglaries: Empty homes and businesses are prime targets for burglars who seek easy access to valuable items. In the US, for example, burglaries have shown to increase by up to 11% in the summer.
• Vandalism: Properties that appear neglected or unattended are more susceptible to acts of vandalism.
• Trespassing: With fewer people around, unauthorised individuals may trespass on properties, leading to potential damage or theft.
• Other safety concerns: Unmonitored properties can pose safety risks, such as fires or gas leaks, which can go unnoticed without proper surveillance.
• Violent crime: As well as property crime, violent crime typically increases during hot weather. 

Alarm monitoring centres must continuously monitor security alarms and CCTV feeds to detect any suspicious activities. They must also assess the validity of alerts to differentiate between genuine threats and false alarms.

However, traditional alarm & CCTV monitoring software often struggles with high volumes of alarms and limited ability to analyse video feeds in real-time.

Our alarm monitoring software, GeminiSense, has many tools for filtering false alerts – and video analytics takes it further.

How Does AI-Powered Video Analytics Work?

AI-powered analytics enhances the capabilities of your camera system, helping to accurately analyse footage with fewer resources. Thanks to edge computing, data can be processed locally on the devices where it’s captured rather than sending it to a centralised server. This approach reduces latency, thus improving response times. 

AI algorithms continuously scan the footage, detecting and classifying anomalies. When a genuine threat is identified, an alert is sent to the control room. 

Key Capabilities of AI-Powered Video Analysis Tools 

Motion Detection

The algorithms can accurately detect motion within footage, distinguishing between actual threats and irrelevant movements, such as passing animals or weather-related disturbances. This reduces the number of false alarms and ensures that monitoring centres focus on real security risks. This approach can also be used to secure perimeters. 

Facial Recognition

Facial recognition technology can identify and verify individuals captured on CCTV. This feature is particularly useful when it comes to access control and recognising unauthorised personnel (or identifying repeat offenders).

Anomaly Detection

AI systems can identify other types of anomalies such as loitering, sudden crowd formation, or attempts to tamper with security cameras. These activities can then be flagged for immediate attention, preventing escalation. 

More advanced systems can analyse complex human behaviours, such as running in normally calm areas or erratic movements.

License Plate Recognition

AI can recognise and record vehicle registration plates, helping to identify suspicious or unauthorised vehicles in restricted areas.

Object Detection and Tracking

Suspicious objects (such as unattended bags or packages) can be detected and tracked within a scene, which is vital for identifying potential threats in public spaces like airports.

Crowd Density Analysis

It’s also possible to assess crowd density in real-time, providing valuable data for managing large gatherings and ensuring public safety. This capability is also useful for retail environments and transport hubs.

Benefits of Combining AI Video Analytics and Cloud Based Alarm Monitoring Software

Using video analytics alongside cloud-based CCTV monitoring software offers several key benefits.

Increased Efficiency and Accuracy

Cloud based security alarm monitoring software can process vast amounts of data quickly and accurately, enabling monitoring centres to detect threats efficiently. 

Combine this with the capabilities of video analytics, and it reduces the workload on human operators that would otherwise need to manually check footage for suspicious activity.

Factors such as tiredness or having to monitor multiple sites simultaneously increases the risk of human error – which video analytics mitigates, ensuring critical incidents are not overlooked.

Reduced False Alarms

As mentioned, AI can filter out genuine anomalies from irrelevant ones, improving the capability to filter out false alerts. Not only does this further reduce the workload for control room staff, but it also contributes to accreditation. Alarm receiving centres must demonstrate that they can effectively filter false alarms in order to meet the requirements of regulatory bodies.

Enhanced Situational Awareness and Crime Prevention

Integrating video analytics with cloud based alarm receiving software gives operators enhanced situational awareness. Since the systems can analyse multiple data streams simultaneously, a comprehensive, real-time overview of security events is provided. This allows operators to make informed decisions quickly and coordinate responses more effectively across different sites.

The real-time analysis that video analytics provides not only enables faster responses to security breaches, but it also helps prevent incidents in the first place by alerting operators to unusual behaviours.

Scalable Solutions

Cloud based software offers scalability, allowing security operations to grow with the organisation’s needs. Devices or systems for video analytics can easily integrate into existing alarm monitoring systems, enabling the expansion of monitoring capabilities without significant additional infrastructure costs.

Cost Savings and Better Resource Allocation

Reducing the need for manual monitoring and decreasing false alarm events can result in significant cost savings. Fewer false alerts mean less unnecessary dispatch of security personnel and emergency services, while automated monitoring reduces the labour costs associated with continuous human surveillance.

Instead of focusing on monitoring tasks, personnel can be redeployed to more strategic roles, such as proactive patrolling or in-depth investigations, enhancing the organisation’s overall security posture. 

Greater Customer Confidence

ARCs that use advanced security technologies like video analytics can assure clients and stakeholders of the quality of their services. This may enhance customer confidence, especially for those in security-sensitive industries.

Our Partnership with Calipsa

Calipsa is a leading provider of AI-driven security software solutions such as Calipsa Detect, their object detection solution which filters out 93% of false alarms across your CCTV systems. 

GeminiSense now integrates with Calipsa Detect, which has the following features:

• Object detection: The solution checks the cause of alarms and filters out irrelevant alerts triggered by the likes of wildlife, trees, and minor lighting changes. Only those triggered by human activity or vehicles are escalated.  
• Camera masking: Users can set up the solution to only monitor certain areas within a camera’s field of view, ignoring irrelevant areas and further reducing false alerts.
• Site scheduling: Object detection can be scheduled on a site-by-site basis to ensure monitoring only occurs during required hours, optimising resource use.
• Calipsa Detect mobile app: Users can stay updated through the mobile app (available for Android and iOS). The app enables remote access and management of site security and provides a live camera view.
• Reporting: Calipsa Detect has extensive reporting tools. Users can view a snapshot of the software’s activity over 24 hour, weekly, monthly or custom periods, and can generate automatic, detailed reports. Reports can be sent directly to stakeholders in PDF format.

Conclusion

AI-powered video analytics can significantly boost the capabilities of ARCs and enhance real time visibility. With features such as motion detection, facial recognition, and anomaly detection, these systems increase efficiency, reduce false alerts, speed up response times, and enhance overall security coverage. The reduction in false alarms reduces the pressure on the overburdened emergency services and helps ARCs meet certification requirements.

To learn more about how GeminiSense and Calipsa Detect can work together to enhance your services, contact ustoday.