2009/11/19 KUALA LUMPUR: A diplomat is being investigated for allegedly using force to outrage the modesty of a saleswoman in the embassy premises in Jalan U-Thant here.

The alleged incident took place on Tuesday afternoon when the saleswoman went to meet the diplomat.

It was learnt that after the meeting, the envoy allegedly grabbed the woman and kissed her several times before she broke free and fled.

The woman lodged a police report stating that he tried contacting her several times after the incident but she refused to answer.

It was also learnt that police have made a request to Wisma Putra to record a statement from the diplomat as he has diplomatic immunity. Police have also requested the tapes from the closed-circuit television cameras at the embassy.

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Today we’ve continued on our air travel theme – with yesterday’s Luton airport and aeroplane classroom stories leading the way – with a piece on CEM’s IP access equipment in use at Heathrow’s much-loved Terminal 5. Jet-setting!

We’ve also got an article on Mercury Security Management, a company gearing up for SIA-licensing in Northern Ireland by obtaining Approved Contractor Status. Keeping it regulated.

Apparently vehicle ID thefts are on the rise. Is someone impersonating your car? That sounds completely insane to me.

Also today, we’ve got a new Mirasys UK MD; some sporting access from Salto; and a new mid-priced anti-vandal dome from Samsung Techwin.

Well, that’s all absolutely splendid.

www.info4security.com, www.ifsec.co.uk

  Installing CCTV to your business can bring about a number of benefits. Some of these are fairly obvious such as preventing thefts and other crimes, aiding the police and watching employees. However there are many other benefits that you may have not considered that make CCTV an invaluable aspect of a business.

In many jobs your employees may be vulnerable to physical or verbal attacks from the general public. Knowing that they are being watched by CCTV however can minimise these cases and empower them to calmly deal with them. Obviously, CCTV can help you identify how a crime happened and to spot it in action, but it can also deter them from occurring in the first place simply by them knowing they’re being watched.

CCTV can make employees and customers alike feel safer in their environment, providing employees with an ongoing record of the activities in the business should their be any disputes or inconspicuous behaviour.

Mike Tolley, Principal Consultant at Cogent (fm) Solutions, looks at the issues that concern the CCTV industry. Today Mike argues the need for standards.

I still believe that there are huge amounts of good business to be had, but it is all too often like an old western out there on the streets. Sales companies are fighting to the death and, ultimately, it will lead to the death of their companies.

The surge of cheap CCTV products being offered, are being lapped up by the cheap CCTV installers and it is killing the industry.

The margin is reduced in sales, so the service cannot be offered; engineers are not trained and maintained, vetted or provided with the right tools. And the real loser in all of this is the end user … they get a cheap CCTV system by a cheap CCTV installer who cannot provide the service and back up to support the system.

There should be a specification of minimum standards of equipment adopted by the industry and its regulators. This will assist the un-knowing end user in getting a level playing field based on service and competitive pricing. You can buy CCTV cameras from some distributors for as low as £25. You cannot tell me there is any quality standards of manufacturing that have gone into that product.

Installation companies that wish to be accredited by SSAIB / NSI should sign up to this and fit only equipment that meets these minimum standards. Installers should be made to erect the correct DPA (Data Protection Act) signage and provide a DPA policy with every system. Compliance packs are readily available so it should be part of the system.

Too many end users still don’t know that CCTV is covered by the DPA. Maintenance policies must be taken out with every installation. It can’t be left as an option to be taken out later; it is stated within the DPA rules on CCTV. To be sold, all products must have a detailed specification sheet, not on a pretty picture and a made up specification.

Do you agree with Mike? Let us know what you think below.

For more comment and insight about CCTV  click here to read CCTV articles.

ALC-DVR32 Hidden Alarm Clock DVR Camera

   We have had a great number of clients asking about our ALC-DVR32 Alarm Clock hidden DVR cameras with audio and video recording for the loved ones on their holiday shopping list.  As we have been having a hard time keeping these in-stock because of their popularity, we have raised our stock of these cameras just for the holiday.

    These self-contained home security systems provide audio and video recording onto a removable SD card which can be played back on your computer or TV.  Because there are no additional wires, these functional alarm clocks are great for providing video coverage of your apartment or house without having to run expensive wires.  Great for anyone on your list this Christmas. 

So give the gift of security and protection to your loved ones.

ALC-DVR32 Alarm Clock DVR Camera with Audio and Video Recording

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Hello hello – time for more security newsology. Let’s delve.

Here’s a flying classroom, protected by some Vista CCTV gear. what’s all that about, then? The answer lies here, my friend.

Then there’s the Home Office, which has gone ahead and launched an ad campaign on citizen rights under the police pledge. Right on!

Have you got bendy bollards? These people have. They’re bendy!

IndigoVision has shown its new ONVIF-compliant video management software; the new Skills for Security training centre has been opened; and we’ve got stories on Luton Airport, a new bodyworn camera system, and for some reason, Eastenders. Enjoy these wonderful tales!

www.info4security.com, www.ifsec.co.uk

Come protest against Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and their new network of electronic surveillance for Midtown Manhattan, which includes: surveillance cameras, license plate readers and weapons sensors. Please join us to protest these measures to have our every move watched and evaluated by machines and snoops sitting among closed circuit television (CCTV) screens.

We must tell our Mayor and Police Commissioner that New Yorkers do not approve of living in a 1984 technological nightmare! If New York City turns into the next London, masses of people will leave the Big Apple in droves, placing a further strain on our local economy. Lack of respect for personal privacy becomes a quality of life issue for New Yorkers. New Yorkers want and deserve a peaceful existence of normalcy and respect. Anything less is unacceptable!

Please tell others and promote this event on your favorite local political web sites and blogs. 

We will be meeting at the steps of City Hall, located at: 260 Broadway, New York, NY 10007.

Mike Tolley, Principal Consultant at Cogent (fm) Solutions, looks at the issues that concern the CCTV industry. Today Mike identifies a worrying trend that ‘cheapest is best’.

I believe that the more recent companies entering the marketplace, seeing the amount of CCTV that is being installed, are turning to the cheap end of the market, but some established installers are also coming very close to falling foul of ‘cheapest wins’.

Many end users are now also falling into the trap of ‘cheapest is best’. There are some excellent products out there that are not leading brand names, but excellent quality products at reduced prices, and I don’t rule out their place in our industry. But ‘fit for purpose’ must be considered. Under DPA guidelines it states that it must be adequate – for the sake of poor old Dannie Parkes and many others like him who are expected to perform ‘Mission Impossible’ or ‘The Bill’ type miracles on useless CCTV images.

If you care, consider for just one moment how your customer feels. They have had a CCTV system installed by your company with products recommended by you. They have an incident and, due to the poor quality of images from both camera and recorder, the police have said that there is nothing they can do with the images from the new CCTV system.

Do you believe that this is the end of your relationship or an opportunity to go back and up sell them some new kit? Consider now how you felt that last time you were sold something that didn’t work. You ranted at the sales person in the store, making a big show of it and wanted the world in return for their failings. Where is the balance?

Do you agree with Mike? Let us know what you think below.

For more comment and insight about CCTV  click here to read CCTV articles.

It’s Monday, and what better way to mark the occasion than with some CCTV footage of idiots smashing an Audi into a shop. Classy guys!

Then there’s Romeo Richards, who lends us his opinions for a piece called ‘How to Sell Security‘. He’s firmly in favour of seeking additional ROI for the customer, rather than worrying about achieving further accreditations. Interesting.

We’ve also got our South African pal, Andrew Seldon, back to tell us about the latest security goings-on in his neck of the words. Luckily for us, he has compiled these into a compact article-type pagelet. It’s here, usefully.

There’s also the Co-operative in a search to reduce retail crime, competition-style; a Royal Marines contract for Corps Security; and a focus on hinges! That’s ‘hinges‘.

All human life is here. Enjoy.

www.info4security.com, www.ifsec.co.uk

Mike Tolley, Principal Consultant at Cogent (fm) Solutions, identifies the need to understand what the customer wants to achieve in order to deliver the right solution.

Coming back to work for an installer for family reasons, I found it difficult to adopt the approach of the salesman again, so I didn’t.

I was told to expect a 1 in 12 win ratio (moving from a 1 in 4 ratio back in 2000) … all that wasted time with no benefit! Surely it couldn’t be cost effective enough to employ me?

So I spent a couple of months looking at the industry again. I looked at where a CCTV installation company could still add value without playing in a Dutch auction on prices.

Using my consultative head (based on working in partnership with the client, rather than just being another contractor) we, as a company, used the same style of approach:

• understand the needs of the customer and the site
• offer advice first
• advise on a need basis, not a sales one
• recommend the right solution even if it isn’t in your portfolio of products
• assist in finding a reputable supplier of that solution

This approach has led us to making partnerships with several suppliers of other security related products and services, so we are not ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’, we are a professional organisation working in partnership with other like minded individuals to mutually benefit our customers.

Through this approach, our partners will also benefit and the sales pro-rata will come around. We are now back into a 1 in 3, 1 in 4 win ratio of good quality business. We have won some very credible national contracts in the past three months and we have a rosy future ahead. We are also willing to walk away from those sourcing cheap alternatives.

Do you agree with Mike? Let us know what you think below.

For more comment and insight about CCTV  click here to read CCTV articles.

From the various ideas that I’ve had about this problem, one thing keeps coming into my head, based on the idea I had earlier that looked at the idea of sound in the retail environment.

Speaking to the various different stakeholders I’ve met, and also looking at other research material online, one of the biggest deterrents amongst shoplifters appears to be based around the presence of staff. Equally, staff feel most comfortable about loss prevention when their high-risk items are within sight. This allows them to see when people are interacting with them – regardless of whether this is in a criminal manner, or a legitimate one. For a legitimate customer, the presence of staff is ultimately useful in their shopping experience (as long as the interaction does not stray into a cack-handed instance of a store detective following them).

So how can I make the most of this?

Having a think about the sensory interactions that a store employee may use to become aware of a shoplifter – or suspicious behaviour in general – it’s clear that there are two main senses involved in the process. Excluding taste and smell (unless someone is willing to counter that store detectives can actually smell the fear of a potential criminal), touch relies too much on the close proximity of a shoplifter – something that is very much avoided by thieves. Realistically, sight and hearing are what retail staff rely on the most, and increasing the range and ability of these senses should ultimately improve their perception of what’s happening on the shop floor. (Click the image to enlarge)

So with these two senses as the primary methods of increasing awareness amongst staff, what is their role in aiding loss prevention?

Predictably, previous methods of preventing theft in retail environments have focused on both these areas before. In relation to hearing, EAS systems utilise loud alarms to alert staff to the theft of items from the store, while CCTV systems augment the visual perception of the staff, allowing the recording of theft, and ultimately allowing the identification of individuals who are stealing from the store. However, the reality of both these systems is a costly one. Both require staffing to allow them to function at their best (CCTV requires monitoring to ensure criminals are caught in the act, whilst EAS needs security staff to catch those leaving without paying). In both instances, staffing is the key to their function, and security-specific staffing is not preferable amongst small businesses. Additionally, EAS only allows identification of theft upon leaving the store, which is too late to prevent it happening.

The point of all this? Well, it’s clear that the solutions that exist in this area, at present, offer partial coverage utilising relatively high-tech equipment. Given my aim of low cost, low tech solutions for small business who cannot justify these methods, it seems clear that there is the opportunity to alert staff to potential loss without relying on electronics. How can I stimulate sight and hearing in a manner that fits with my brief?

If you want to setup a not too expensive way of looking into your home, and getting some interesting security features, then you should look at the Astak Mole webcam. Read on to find out more!

Read More…

For over a month the Shell Garage in Kingsthorpe, Northants has seen all of its jars of Marmite vanish from the shelves. Don’t look at me I hate the stuff! The shop has been forced to stop stocking the spread until the thief is caught. So far 18 jars have vanished. Despite the culprit being caught on CCTV camera the jars continue to vanish. In one raid he stole all but 2 jars but the next day he came back and took those too! No one has a clue what he is doing with the condiment but some have suggested he might be using it to hide drugs because it would hide the smell of friggin anything! So if you happened to know anyone with a shit load of jars in their cupboard you might want to give the police a buzz or not!

While they are on their worldwide tour, traveling exhibits manager Arts and Exhibition International is using active RFID technology and sensors to protect the treasure of King Tutankhamun’s tomb, writes Claire Sweedburg in a recent issue of RFID Journal. The system is traveling with the “Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs” exhibit.

The tags, used in other museums, such as the National Gallery in London, New York’s Museum of Modern Art, contain built-in vibration sensors and magnetic tamper switches to determine if an object has been touched or moved, and to detect if a display case has been opened. If display cases are tampered with while on display, video images from a CCTV system are instantly displayed in the museum’s security office and alerts are sent to museum staff members on their pagers. An audible alarm inside the gallery warns the perpetrator and security guards that the system has been triggered.

The system tracks 75 display cases with 130 Egyptian national treasures, including more than 50 items from Tutankhamun’s tomb and more than 70 artifacts representing other pharaohs and notables, along with the latest scientific research about King Tut. The system is able to protect the exhibit in each of the multiple installations at a variety of different museums and galleries in seven or eight cities over the course of five years, according to  Jeffrey Wyatt, Arts and Exhibitions International’s VP and project manager. The advantages of using RFID vs. traditional wired sensor systems are that it can work in multiple countries (as opposed to dedicated security solutions specific to certain standards), and it tracks data about the display’s location and status at all times, and not only when something goes wrong. With RFID, the exibition managers always know the location and status of the exhibit’s precious items.

David Loukidelis, the Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia, speaking today at The Surveillance Games workshop, has made it quite clear that his office does not want the Winter Games to leave a legacy of securitization in the city or indeed, fear (as the Assistant Federal Privacy Commissioner, Chantal Bernier, put it), in the consciousness of its residents. In particular he argued that the 600 (yes, 600) cameras that are being installed at the Olympic venues and beyond should not be allowed to remain after the games. I hope that his office is able to deliver on this view, but I doubt that it will. As Kevin Haggerty and Phil Boyle have noted, security architecture is now an actual deliverable of the Olympics, and as many other researchers have shown, such architecture, including in particular CCTV but also adjusted local or national laws on the thematic and spatial limits of protest and freedom of expression (which, as Michael Vonn of the BCCLA and Chris Shaw, a leading anti-games activist, are describing at this very moment in the conference, are themselves often illegal and unconstitutional) tends not only to persist but to act as a kind of Trojan Horse for an expanded surveillance. And as Vonn’s group has also shown – the city is building a permanent CCTV control centre as part of the security architecture for the Games, and you don’t do that for cameras that are going to be removed.

Protect your home, garages and buildings at night with light security deterrent; from a single security light to fully integrated CCTV surveillance system. We will advise you on the best options for the safest and most complete surveillance system.

Find your North London CCTV Installation Electrician here.

Have you ever heard the one about a person being caught on camera more than 300 times in a single day?

misquotes the most used statistic (that always pops up in articles bemoaning CCTV or surveillance society) of a person in London (or UK, England etc.) being caught on CCTV up to 300 times a day is completely fictional. This quote has reached viral proportions with the BBC regularly using it as well many other sources on the Internet. The original source was from The Maximum Surveillance Society, published in 1999, by C. Norris. One chapter details a day in the life of a man called Thomas Reams, as he did various things in and around London. By the end “Thomas had been filmed by over three hundred cameras on over thirty separate CCTV systems”, the authors wrote, adding: “While this contrived account is, of course, a fictional construction, it is a fiction that increasingly mirrors the reality of routine surveillance.”

Mike Tolley, Principal Consultant at Cogent (fm) Solutions, looks at the issues that concern the CCTV industry today.

Unfortunately my flippant comment about double glazing sales people selling CCTV is true. The approach to selling CCTV is based, by the majority, on How many? and The cheapest price? – not questions such as Why CCTV? Placed where to justify the need? and the issue of cost effectiveness against quality.

As a consultant, I would often get sales staff walking a site with me on a tender specification, and they would try to justify their point for additional CCTV, or an easier mounting point, with no foundation or reason. They where quickly put back in their place. There is no education or training in the security sales industry. It is, typically, ‘in at the deep end’ and ‘use your first customers as your testing grounds’

It is good to see that some manufacturers have taken the initiative in system and product sales training and accredited installer schemes. There are a few installers that take training seriously. They are starting to shine through, recognised as sitting at the front of their field.

Do you agree with Mike? Let us know what you think below.

For more comment and insight about CCTV  click here to read CCTV articles.

Hello Everyone:

     Sorry for not posting in some time. At times we need a break from some things to keep our minds from going on the fritz. Contemplating on all this negative stuff going on can drive one crazy, then mad and possibly insane with time!

  The protest we held last month against government surveillance (despite the Meetup group promoting it) was a bomb unfortunately. Fifteen people RSVPed a “yes”, two a “maybe” and guess what? I was the only one to show up! I did make a lot of heads turn though and received some very positive reactions!

  If you care about your privacy like I do, then we need some kind of plan of action or YOU have to devote some time or help to do something! If you expect me to run an entire campaign against surveillance all by myself then guess what the result is going to be? FAILURE! I can always be contacted with the “Contact Us” hyperlink at our homepage. Please help and do something!

  One simple thing you can do to help this organization grow is to join our Meetup group here: http://www.meetup.com/NYC-CameraFRAUD-Citizens-Against-Surveillance. This at least tells me your care and wish to show your support in some way. Numbers do matter and so do lack of numbers!  

  Another thing you as an individual can do is volunteer your time to spread the message about this site. Help organize an event for this group. Make fliers about this group and leave them in your place(s) of business you attend (if you don’t like handing out fliers to people directly). Buy ad space on the web or in newspapers to promote our web site and views. Help promote our group on different political web sites you like to participate in. Tell our web address over the radio and what we’re about. This is how organizations can grow.

  Just as the surveillance cameras hit our streets and highways like weeds which grow in the spring, I say we can fight fire with fire concerning this subject and here’s how: I personally am willing to go to the highways to place yard signs everywhere to promote our group and our message on these giant surveillace posts to make people aware that we exist and that we are all being spied on by these towers the Department of Homeland “Security” has erected everywhere (a new one was just built days ago less than a mile away from my house)! Placement of these signs is the key but I need your help. Would you help me out and consider donating $5, $10, $20, $50, $100 or any amount of money you can afford to print up signs?  See “Donate to NYC CameraFRAUD” hyperlink for what to do to. If you can make a donation of gold, platinum, palladium, silver, copper coinage or bars that helps us even more (I know people that accept it)! Why? It’s because the more we rely on the Federal Reserve Bank’s fiat money, the more controlled we are by them, as the more their money becomes worth and matters. We give the Central Banks their power to run our government(s) and world by using their money! Ever wonder why in America, the land of the once free, we have an income tax as of 1913, why most of our elections are always fixed, why we had a 9/11 tragedy, why we instigate wars throughout the world, why we have military bases throughout the world, why we have cameras watching us all over the place, why our government policy cares more about Israel than its own American citizens? It’s because of the Rothschild family and their Federal Reserve Bank that gives them this power to do this to us through their monetary control, no matter how much we protest what they do!!

  The New World Order can be defeated without one shot fired or one punch thrown. Just stop paying for things with their Federal Reserve Notes and stop accepting their “money”. Just because we have the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, doesn’t mean they can force us to accept this money! No one can compel us to do anything we are not willing to do! If everyone took this attitude we would live in a free world and have our freedom back! It’s just a matter of you not being lazy about this, your will and your principles as a whole!

  If people refuse to accept  gold and silver coinage as a payment, show whoever it is a copy of the U.S. Constitution and cite Article 1, Section 10. The Constitution is the supreme law of the United States. It is illegal to refuse gold and silver coinage as a form of payment! Tell that to everyone you buy from. If the Feds wish to cause you trouble tell them that they don’t follow their own laws that they are bound to uphold as the U.S. Constitution is the ultimate law of the land. So start paying for your purchases in gold and silver coins! A source to get gold and silver coins to trade with can be found here: www.opencurrency.com.  They also have interesting reading material for learning.

  By the way, please attend your local End The Fed protest on November 22, 2009 by going here: http://www.endthefed.us.

 Sincerely,

 NYC CameraFRAUD Organizer