Yard video surveillance. 4 expert pieces of advice

Protection of the home and surrounding area is a basic human need. Few dispute the need for security measures in private and apartment buildings. Read about how to competently organize video surveillance at the front door of your apartment here. On our website you can find an article called “Video surveillance in entrance hall. 5 main installation rules“. But today we will talk exactly about what yard video surveillance is.

Significance of video surveillance of the yard

Without any dependencies, all courtyard areas must be protected from:

• accidental and/or intentional damage to property and green spaces;
• real acts of vandalism;
• theft, destruction of vehicles;
• entry of unauthorized persons into attics, basements, entrances;
• unscrupulous behavior of residents (for example, unauthorized construction waste, dog walking, car parking);
• careless work of maintenance personnel, temporary workers and utility services.

Courtyard of a private house

Owners of private households have the right to organize video surveillance in the surrounding area. However, the placement of video cameras should be done in such a way as to exclude neighboring houses/plots, as well as other buildings and other people’s property, from entering the frame.

Courtyards of commercial organizations

Video surveillance in the yard of an apartment building where commercial organizations (restaurants, shops, shopping centers, banks) are located also need protection.

It is advisable to use cameras around the perimeter and integrate video surveillance with burglar alarms, access control systems and fire systems. The advantages of integrated systems are described in the article “Video surveillance and burglar alarm“.

Courtyard of an apartment building

In view of the residence of a large number of people in apartment buildings, there are always many conflict situations, disputes, and the likelihood of committing offenses also increases.

In particular, a video surveillance camera (yard) helps:

• minimize cases of hooliganism, theft and robbery by 30%;
• increase the detection rate of crimes and offenses. Most often, users are interested in the topic of car video surveillance;
• record the situation in the yard, parking lot, on the playground around the clock;
• control the behavior and condition of children during walks and games;
• timely identify visits and the presence of unwanted persons. This is facilitated by video analytics with black and white listing functions;
• resolve household disputes between neighbors.

In old apartment buildings (where there are no built-in video monitoring systems), the decision to implement a video surveillance system is made by the housing coop or management company.

In this case, the consent of at least 2/3 of the apartment owners is required, recorded in the form of a protocol of the collective meeting. No regulatory approval is required.

4 expert pieces of advice

When organizing video surveillance in courtyards, where the interests and rights of many people are affected, you should pay attention to the following expert advice:

1. Don’t ignore the design process. Saving on a project leads to future losses. Read the article “Video surveillance project design. Everything you need to know“.
2. Begin with the principle of openness. Remember that everyone has the right to privacy, guaranteed by the Russian Constitution. Residents of the building and their guests must be aware that they are being filmed in the yard. Post information signs of the appropriate content on the territory of the yard. Never use spy equipment for covert video filming.
3. Create a centralized management system. A list of persons responsible for video surveillance must be approved and documented. The narrower the circle of persons, the less controversial situations with access to the system: ideally, in an apartment building there should be one person who controls video surveillance.
4. Choose smart software and cloud storage. This combination provides undeniable advantages:

• capabilities of intelligent video analytics;
• round-the-clock remote access from anywhere in the world;
• receive quick notifications about events;
• no problems and additional expenses for updating the system;
• no criminal or administrative liability for data storage (it lies with the cloud provider);
• maximum data protection, because they cannot be damaged, lost, erased, changed in cloudy space.

For objectivity of opinions on methods of storing video archives, read the article “4 ways of storing video recordings from surveillance cameras“.

Instead of a conclusion

Yard video surveillance is an important element in ensuring the safety of homes, residents and businesses. Please note that in many aspects, video surveillance of courtyards comes into contact with the topic of video monitoring of entrances. This requires the participation and consent of the co-owners of a residential building, as well as a decision of the Criminal Code or housing cooperative. Choose proven software and don’t neglect system design.