What are your tips for choosing a spot to place CCTV cameras?

Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras can be excellent deterrents against criminals, porch pirates, and other opportunists, if they’re placed correctly. Contrary to what you might think, haphazardly stationing a camera or two around the house won’t do the job – you need a strategic plan. We talked CCTV cameras with some of our security-savvy business owners and they offered stellar advice on the best placements for your visual monitors.

Main Points of Entry, Pedestrian Walkways, and Low-Lit Areas

The best locations to place your CCTV cameras are your main points of entry such as front doors, garage doors, laundry doors, veranda entrances and back pergola areas.

It’s also wise to have an overview camera of any sheds or pool areas. Ensure you cover driveways for parked vehicles along with front and back door cameras to capture faces.

Doors and windows that are hidden from the main street or are in low lit areas are a target due their privacy.

Enhance the application by installing AI and/or Active Deterrent cameras so you can receive alerts based on movement of a person or vehicle and opt to have sirens, lights or voice message to alert the perpetrator of your recorded system.

Two-way talk cameras can also assist in the delivery of parcels from your courier and portray that someone is home when in fact they are not.

For your commercial site, consider your main entrance points and car park areas along with high-risk areas such as forklift movement, pedestrian walkways, picking and packing, machinery works, shopping corridors, and delivery pick up and drop offs.

The CCTV system can be incorporated into your access control and/or alarm system to provide another level of control over who enters your site.

Doors, Windows, Driveways

We urge our customers to consider locations that need to be covered, rather than coming up with several cameras to install. We know that most burglaries are through doors and windows, so we focus on covering those areas to start. If it’s within our client’s budget, we then look to cover driveways to detect people trespassing. It’s important to note that although a lot of modern cameras perform well in low-light areas, having sensor lights installed will operate as deterrents and provide a better way to identify any would-be crooks.

Cameras are always installed up high and out of reach. This provides an excellent vantage point and ensures they’re less likely to be targeted.

Finally, we do install cameras inside the home too, however, we find that fewer of our clients want cameras inside the home. They want to know that the outside of their homes are secure, rather than feeling like they live with Big Brother.