Being able to hear conversations and ambient sounds can add a whole new facet to your ability to identify suspects and protect your employees.

Crime

• Audio goes a long way to revealing the intent of the perpetrator during an incident. Take this recent high profile surveillance video for example..., even being low resolution, how beneficial would it have been to have the audio?
• Criminals have been known to call each other by name during the commision of a crime, oblivious to the possiblity they are being recorded. Having at least a partial name would certainly help detectives identify suspects, and would likely aid in prosecution.
• Its not unheard of for a criminal to make or recieve a phone call during the commision of a crime. A custom ring tone or the conversation itself might be enough to lead to a suspect.
• Ambient noises like the tone of a cars exhaust or doors closing etc, can provide valuable information. Unlike a camera that can only see what its aimed at, microphones pick up audio from all directions.

Management

• We all know that the customer is always right. But on occasion a customer may exaggerate or embellish the truth when complaining about how they were treated by an employee. Having the recording of the actual conversation more often than not defends your employees. And should the recording reveal that the customer was indeed right, management has the facts on which to act accordingly.

This list goes on but you get the idea.

We get asked quite frequently about "wireless" cameras. This is a valid question as a large portion of the cost of a surveillance system is the labor and materials to run the cables.

Wireless cameras are a rarity in commercial grade systems for a couple reasons.

1. Wireless is not as reliable and secure as wired, that's just a fact.
2. Until they invent wireless electricity, the cameras still need to be powered, preferably from a central common power supply.
   Ok... there are battery operated wireless cameras like NetGear's Arlo, but those are certainly not commercial grade, and we don't consider running cameras with AA batteries a realistic option, ...at least not yet.

Wireless cameras include a "wall wart" type power supply to plug into 120 VAC house current. Typically these power supplies only leave you 6' of wire to get from the power outlet to the camera, which is rarely adequate. That leaves you with two options, run an extension cord (unsightly and a bad idea outdoors or in your attic), or extend the factory wire with weather tight splices so that you can place the power supplies in a sensible location. Hopefully now you can see that "wireless" is not really wireless at all.

So, if wires need run to power the cameras, why not just run them a little further and use the same cable run to transmit the video signal too?

Customers and employees fake injuries all the time in hopes of a making a quick buck. They perpetrate these frauds because it works due to the plain fact that it usually costs less to settle than to fight the claim and they (and their lawyers) know it. Even with irrefutable video evidence that the injury was staged, your attorneys will likely recommend a settlement rather than taking the case all the way to court.

That is not much of sales pitch for buying a surveillance system I know. But what may convince you is that the settlement amount will most likely be a fraction of what the original claim was for. (cont.)
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Shown during Superbowl XLVII, this ad titled "Security Cameras from Around the World" showed footage of regular people committing random acts of kindness.
It ranked as the third most effective commercial in Super Bowl XLVII. It was also featured on Ted’s 2013 list of “Ads Worth Spreading.”