How to protect CCTV cameras from theft

 CCTV cameras are becoming much more popular for both home use and to protect small businesses. They have become much more sophisticated and also much more, affordable over the last few years, but they still represent a substantial investment. Because of their relatively high value they are a common target for thieves.

These are some practical ways to protect CCTV cameras from theft:

·       CCTV cameras as a deterrent

One of the main advantages of having CCTV cameras set up around your property, is they act as a deterrent. The majority of thieves do not want to be filmed as this can lead to their identification. Sometimes thieves become a bit more desperate, so try and vandalize the CCTV cameras to avoid detection. This can be done with the use of spray paint, by trying to break the lens by hitting it or just by stealing the CCTV cameras.

The best way to protect your CCTV cameras is to ensure they are mounted high enough so they cannot be reached.

In some situations this may not be possible or practical so CCTV cameras need to be placed in a secure tamper proof cage. This still allows the CCTV cameras to be vulnerable, so the best solution is to have multiple CCTV cameras that are monitoring the area and also monitoring each other.

In order to reduce the cost some dummy cameras could be installed, no one would know which or if any of the CCTV cameras were not operating.

A would be thief will usually check out the area before they take action, by making it obvious that any action in the area will be recorded by a multitude of CCTV cameras, most thieves will decide to find easier and safer targets.

Stop your CCTV cameras from being stolen

·       Mount your CCTV cameras securely with long screws and fill the screw head slots with epoxy so a screwdriver will no longer undo them. (You will know, so will be able to clear out the epoxy to remove them if necessary)

·       Use wireless CCTV cameras set up that send alerts if motion is detected and send their images directly to cloud storage so you have a record of everything and can provide the police with those images

·       Using adequate lighting is often a great deterrent as thieves or vandals don’t like to be observed. Remove any natural cover that potential thieves could use near CCTV cameras

·       Use night vision cameras with smart video analytic programs that are able to differentiate animals and insects from people with motion detectors

·       Have warning notices placed so everyone understands that they are being observed, monitored and recorded at all times by a series of remote CCTV security cameras

 

Protecting your CCTV cameras from theft needs to be done in two stages, the first is mounting the CCTV cameras high in inaccessible places and secondly by making it clear to would be thieves that their actions are being closely monitored.