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| The History of Video Surveillance-from VCR's to Eyes in the Sky
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Mention video surveillance and most people think of video cameras mounted in the
corners of train stations and banks or private detectives video taping an erring
spouse for a messy divorce case. The truth is that the history of video
surveillance is much more complex and goes back much farther than most people
realize.
If you consider video in the simplest of terms, video
surveillance began with simple closed circuit television monitoring. As early as
1965, there were press reports in the United States suggesting police use of
surveillance cameras in public places. In 1969, police cameras were installed in
the New York City Municipal Building near City Hall. The practice soon spread to
other cities, with closed circuit television (CCTV) systems watched by officers
at all times.
Analog beginnings spur video
surveillance
When video cassette recorders hit the market, video
surveillance really hit its stride. Analog technology using taped video cassette
recordings meant surveillance could be preserved on tape as evidence. The
seventies saw an explosion around the world in the use of video surveillance in
everything from law enforcement to traffic control and divorce proceedings.
England installed video surveillance systems in four major Underground Train
Stations in 1975 and began monitoring traffic flow on major highway arteries
about the same time. In the United States, the use of video surveillance wasn't
quite as prevalent until the 1980's for public areas, but store owners and banks
quickly understood the value of it.
Businesses that were prone to theft,
including banks, mini-marts and gas stations, began mounting video surveillance
systems as a deterrent and in hopes of apprehending thieves, particularly in
high crime areas. The insurance industry also found video surveillance
compelling worker's compensation fraud, bogus accident claims and a variety of
other cases began to turn in the industry's favor when they could provide tapes
of supposedly disabled workers doing the limbo at a family reunion.
For
the private citizen, analog technology was primarily used in the 1970's and
1980's for capturing the worst side of human nature cheating spouses and poor
parenting. Private detectives were able to provide more graphic and compelling
evidence of affairs and parental stupidity with film than with still shots, and
video tapes became frequent evidence in family court. The drawback in many cases
was that after a while, owners and employees would become complacent and not
change the tapes daily or the tapes would wear out after months of being
re-used. There was also the problem of recording at night or in low light. While
the concept was good, the technology hadn't yet peaked. The next step was the
Charged Coupled Device camera (CCD), which used microchip computer technology.
These new cameras broadened the practical applications of video surveillance by
allowing low light and night recording possible.
In the 1990's another
advancement in the history of video surveillance made great strides in
practicality Digital Multiplexing. When digital multiplexer units became
affordable it revolutionized the surveillance industry by enabling recording on
several cameras at once (more than a dozen at time in most cases). Digital
multiplex also added features like time-lapse and motion-only recording, which
saved a great deal of wasted videotape.
By the mid-1990's, ATM's across
the United States and in most parts of the world had video cameras installed to
record all transactions. After the first attack on the World Trade Center in
February of 1993, the New York Police Department, FBI and CIA all install
surveillance cameras throughout the area. Soon many countries are also using
either CCTV or video taped surveillance to cover major sporting events that
could be potential hot spots, including the World Cup Soccer games at Giants
Stadium in 1994.
Digital makes video surveillance faster, clearer, more
efficient Digital video surveillance made complete sense as the price of digital
recording dropped with the computer revolution. Rather than changing tapes
daily, the user could reliably record a month's worth of surveillance on hard
drive because of compression capability and low cost. The images recorded
digitally were so much clearer than the often grainy images recorded with analog
that recognition was immediately improved for police, private investigators and
others utilizing video surveillance for identification purposes. With digital
technology you could also manipulate the images to improve clarity even further
by adding light, enhancing the image, zooming in on frames, etc.
The
second wave of increased video surveillance corresponded with the emergence of
digital in the United States. From 1997 on, police departments across the
country installed more and more video surveillance cameras in public buildings,
housing projects and areas like New York's Washington Square Park. The NYPD also
began using mobile surveillance vans at political rallies and other large
gatherings (including festivals and parades) under the auspices of the Technical
Assistance Response Unit (TARU).
In-home use soars
with advent of nanny cams
As more women went back to full-time
careers in the 90's, digital video surveillance manufacturers found a niche
market that hadn't previously been tapped monitoring what was going on at home
when parents were gone. The nanny cam was a huge success, providing a way for
parents to observe what nannies and housekeepers were really doing while at home
with the kids. The popularity of these cameras pushed the industry to develop
ever-smaller, higher resolution cameras that could be hidden almost anywhere.
The result was a boon to industry development, with new versions of digital
video surveillance cameras coming out nearly every month.
9/11 redefines video surveillance for the
future
Nothing changed the concept of or the public's awareness of
video surveillance as much as the tragic events of September 11, 2001 when the
World Trade Center was attacked by terrorists. Where once people saw video
surveillance as an issue that might never affect them, it was now an issue of
immediate and lasting importance. Software developers began refining programs
that would enhance video surveillance, including facial recognition programs
that could compare various key facial feature points in order to match recorded
faces to known mug shots or photographs of terrorists or criminals. While the
earlier versions weren't always reliable, the later versions became more refined
and were phased into use by law enforcement in some areas. In May of 2002, the
United States Parks Service installed face recognition software on the computer
video surveillance cameras at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. That same
year, the Sydney International Airport in Australia installed SmartGate, an
automated border crossing system used for all airline crew members. Using photo
biometrics, the video surveillance systems scans the crew member's face and
compares it to the passport photo and confirms the match in less than ten
seconds, speeding the border process markedly.
In December of 2003, Royal
Palm Middle School in Phoenix, Arizona installed face recognition video
surveillance as a pilot program for tracking missing children and registered sex
offenders. It has split the community, but is supported by many in favor of it
as a potential way to track abductors and child molesters.
The Internet revolution in video surveillance
The
internet has enabled video surveillance to be instituted virtually anywhere and
be watched from anywhere in the world. With satellites bouncing signals around
the globe, you can now watch anyone anywhere from your laptop. The eye in the
sky is a reality with digital streaming video. Sadly, the least common
denominator in streaming video is the peek-a-boo industry of amateur porn sites
that have proliferated on the web, but these real-time streaming videos use the
same technology as many genuine surveillance operations. Streaming video is set
up as a remote system so that you can monitor your site from anywhere in the
world with Internet access because the images are video archived on a remote web
server. The quality is outstanding, with high compression (1800:1 in some cases)
for storage and features like motion-activation and email alerting when there is
activity if you wish. The Internet has truly revolutionized video surveillance
by removing all boundaries for viewing anywhere in the world.
What does the future hold for video surveillance?
The
newest trendy, must-have fun gadget for consumers these days is the picture
phone that can instantly send snapshots and streaming video to family and
friends with just a click. What those fun television ads don't say is that those
telephones can just as easily be used for video surveillance. Nearly everyone
has a cell phone in their hands these days, so someone standing on a street
corner is so unremarkable that virtually anyone could be filming you without
your knowledge.
Rather than mounting obtrusive cameras, future law
enforcement agencies may begin using these phones as integrated devices,
combining video surveillance with public phones in one package for 24/7 public
watch dogging. Police officers and federal agents may eventually be issued
phones with streaming video so that they can immediately send pics of suspects
they are tailing back to a database for matching against a face recognition
program. When new Amber alerts are issued, video clips could be sent to all law
officers quickly and efficiently.
It's clear that with digital technology
and streaming video we're moved into the era of being able to conduct
comprehensive video surveillance and store the resulting evidence indefinitely.
We can reach around the world or across the street with surveillance equipment,
but we are still making advances, as the new video cell phones clearly
illustrate. The future is sure to see even greater strides that will eventually
become part of the history of video surveillance.
Network camera server:
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Area Network or the Internet to facilitate international
interconnection to achieve video transmission
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carries a one analog video input;a conventional analog video output.
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