It seems like surveillance cameras are everywhere we look these days. They are in the public park, at the mall, in the grocery store parking lot, and outside our office buildings. The presence of cameras has become more acceptable in our society, with many people recognizing the value and safety they bring.

Of course, the first thing many people think of when they hear the words surveillance cameras is that they exist as tools to protect people from the bad guy. While that is one of the most important benefits security provides, it is not the complete picture. For many businesses and municipalities the use of surveillance cameras has evolved to extend beyond personal safety to also include the protection of property and assets.

This transition has become necessary in recent years as companies and government agencies alike are faced with tighter budgets and the need to protect current investments in people and infrastructure. A perfect example of this is the County of Maui, Hawaii and their desire to not only safeguard its citizens and employees, but in particular the county’s million-dollar fleet of vehicles, from police cruisers to maintenance vehicles to vehicles driven by its building inspectors.

Originally, the county implemented a surveillance system to protect its critical infrastructure, including Five County Administration Buildings and the Water Department facilities. Later it expanded the surveillance program to reach other areas of the county, such as outside vehicle parking lots and the exterior of facilities housing maintenance equipment. The County turned to surveillance cameras to monitor their property and assets to be able to clearly identify anyone caught on video stealing a vehicle, tires or syphoning gas, which has happened in the past.

Without a doubt, protecting vehicles in a parking lot can be one of the most challenging tasks at hand in the security industry. Not only does the surveillance system being used need to reliably function in the bright sunlight, but it also needs offer superior low-light performance for the nighttime or highly cloudy days.

The market has seen the further development of IP-based day night cameras in recent years as security manufacturers have leveraged sensor, encoding, and processing power from the automotive and other industries. The result is the introduction of cameras that provide consistent image quality in a variety of outdoor environments for continuous 24/7 surveillance.

For the County of Maui, a careful review process and trial run of multiple surveillance cameras led them to select the Illustra 610 day night camera from American Dynamics. In the end, it came down to finding a solution that offered a reliable, low-light performance at an effective price.  

As end users extend the use of their surveillance cameras from beyond protecting people to protecting property, IP day night cameras are becoming a fiscally responsible solution of choice. 

Read more about the County of Maui’s deployment of IP day night cameras in the government solutions area of the Tyco Security Products website.

What other applications are you using a day night camera for within your environment?