Big Brother is Watching...

Opening extract from story by Pauline Herbst
Published in NZ Management Magazine, May 2010, p. 56-57

Knowing theft is going on in your company is one thing; being able to bring the culprits to task is another. The secret is verifiable, security-grade video footage. Pauline Herbst talks to two experts about the latest developments in surveillance camera technology.

Portable and Wireless: Ideal for Sting Operations

Mi5 is on a mission to empower people and organisations to manage their own security and surveillance operations. Don't worry, the British Security Service is still protecting the homeland against "threats of national security", this Mi5 (recognisable by its diminutive 'i') is New Zealand-based and specialises in wire-free security surveillance systems.

COO of Mi5 Scott Wattie says: "Our niche - our customers and partners can very quickly put a security system in and make sure they can rely upon it. Our systems lean themselves more to the rural markets or places where you have to put something in very quickly for sting operations in businesses and the like."

As a good operator, Wattie can't reveal client names, but a relevant example is the case of a warehouse where the existing surveillance cameras had an identified blind spot. As most of the cameras in Mi5's eye series are small, stand-alone, completely portable and wire-free, it was relatively to quickly place a 'BlueEye' (a camera from the indoor surveillance range) in the blind spot without the culprit noticing. That's one way to thwart shrinkage.

Some businesses are using the 'RedEye' outdoor range to apprehend serial graffiti artists and mischief-makers who key cars in parking garages. It might sound like of a nuisance than a threat, but these acts of vandalism can cost a lot to remedy.

Wattie recommends the company's flagship product, the RedEye kit: "A product you can turn on and keep on operating forever. It's charged by a small solar panel and nothing touches it for ease of use ... Our claim to fame is as the world's greenest camera surveillance set, self-powered through the solar panel and a long-life rechargeable battery."

Some of Mi5's customers have even taken to [further] camouflaging the weatherproof outdoor units, wrapping them in camo-tape, or spraying them with glue and covering them with leaves twigs and soil...

So why go to these extremes? The key lies in the term "security grade technology". Wattie says: "It's important to ask yourself, 'What is the outcome I want and is the product going to deliver this, giving me something I can use in the enforcement process to verify who did what, without letting them have any outs or excuses?' "

Grainy images can give an indication of what's happening, but can't prove identification. which is what a business needs if an incident reaches the courts.

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