Although some credit union employees had originally been uneasy about being constantly watched, “very quickly they started to appreciate it as a tool for them,” she says.

According to Dave Tynan, vice-president of global sales and marketing for Avigilon, the company’s product provides a high-definition video surveillance platform that uses HD stream management to power and manage the millions of pixels that HD and megapixel cameras collect. That capability, he says, allows the user to accommodate their current system, including analogue cameras, and migrate to digital as their budget allows. It’s built on an open architecture to allow for the integration of third-party cameras, compressions, access control and other security devices and systems.

“This combination maximizes the variable compression technology that allows for efficient transmission, storage, export and playback of forensic detail never before available from a commercialized network video management platform,” he says.

Of course, storing the data generated by megapixel cameras is a bit more complicated and expensive than storing VHS tapes.

That’s not as much of an issue with Avigilon, however, says Tynan. The vendor includes a data aging feature, which allows the user to configure three separate storage silos with varying numbers of frames or images of video for varying periods, as standard in its products.

While high-tech security solutions may not deter robberies entirely  — WSCU experienced about seven of them over the last year-and-a-half — it does go a long way towards ensuring the perpetrators are caught, as well as enhancing the safety and security of members and staff.

Brian Kellett, sales rep and system integrator at USI, predicts the frequency of such activity will decrease at WSCU branches as criminals move on to other institutions.” Â¥

Kathleen Sibley is a Toronto-based freelance writer.