The Economy of Security –
Observations From Middle America:

posted by andy Wendt 01/22/2007

It has been said that everything has its price but does this truly apply to security systems?

To be fair and balanced we should of course remember that every corporation or government entity is ultimately run by imperfect human beings that must make decisions based on real world financial limitations.

With that in mind, below are some observations from my small town:

This morning I heard on the local news that an elderly pedestrian was hit and killed just four blocks from my home by a police car over the weekend. The police car did not have an in car camera installed. The accident happened in a city where revenue generating Red Light cameras have been installed for years. Several eye witnesses have already disputed the officer’s claim that he had his lights and siren on as he traveled at high speed down the road in response to a call from assistance from a fellow officer.  Unfortunately the lack of an in car camera will undoubtedly lead to countless allegations and denials in the wake of this life shattering and life ending tragedy.

Last week I wondered how financially strapped one of the nations largest retail chains must be as I walked in their main entrance and looked up to notice I was being surveilled by JVC camcorder that had been strapped by duct tape to the top of a 25 inch television set. This actually brings back a six year old memory of a friend of mine who had an incident at that same store. The poor guy was working in the back at the loading dock and for no other reason than he was in the wrong place at the wrong time was attacked and beaten severely by a group of teens. Of course the store from that time to the present has no cameras of any kind in use on its outside perimeter. Most likely the waterproof JVC camcorders are just too rare.

Also a few weeks ago after a long talk with those in charge of a new multi million dollars medical facility I was left to wonder how they could afford to lose $20,000 in construction materials, deal with weeks of delay, and not be able to afford a camera security system costing half of that. It should be noted that these same people did earlier spend a very sizeable sum of money on a single wireless IP camera to watch the time lapsed construction of the facility. The IP camera uploads a wonderful high resolution picture once every five minutes to the corporate website and it was apparently easy to justify the cost if only for the advertising value and warm cozy feeling it brings to their investors. However that single camera at one frame every five minutes offers next to no security for a site their size.

Last year I wondered how a medium sized medical practice can afford to pay tens of thousands in malpractice insurance and never once think about a video security system even after an elderly patient was found to have suffered a stroke and died in their own small parking lot. The really sad part of this story is the patient did earlier try to get in to see his doctor but became discouraged after some lengthy wait and left. When he got back in his car his condition apparently worsened and he was not found until the next day by his family.   

Well those are some very real and very sad stories from right here in my hometown but what’s the economic problem?

Quite simply security cameras in many situations have no ability to generate revenue and in the absence of a government mandate that lack of revenue generating potential puts security cameras at the bottom of a long list of projects that are always in competition for a limited supply of funds.

This eventually creates an economic Catch 22. As security systems are seldom given priority in a proactive manner we are left trying to justify their existence in monetary terms after the damage in there absence has already taken place. Unfortunately more times than not many of these damages, much like the benefits a security system bring, are intangible and do not fit nicely on a balance sheet. After all when was the last time you heard anyone ask their accountant what's a life worth, the value of your bodily well being, the cost of a two week day to source new material, or the real cost of a career? Of course questions of that nature have no answer, as there is no dollar amount that can be put on such things and unfortunately those in charge of putting numbers to everything often fail to see the true value of a video security system until it’s too late.

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Andy Wendt is a technology writer for CSN1 Technologies.
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