Case Study - Erdington Motors
 When Erdington Motors shrewdly installed the latest in crime prevention technology – a CCTV Remote Monitoring System – to halt unauthorized intrusions, they were pleasantly surprised to learn that the kit had a secondary benefit – as an excellent sales tool.
Martin Coulson, Director at Erdington, explains: “Our Trader Policy insisted in some form of night watchman in order to comply with the terms of the policy. Initially we employed a manned guard at a cost of £360 a week, but having found him asleep at his post while on duty, we decided to look at other options.”
“Scare off would-be intruders”
“I had previously been aware of remote monitoring and knew it to be far more effective than simple CCTV cameras and a video recorder. Furthermore, the cost savings were impressive. In short, it has been highly beneficial and a key holder is notified at ever activation, and as they live just two minutes from the premises, this has been a real boon”.
“In addition, the tannoy system has been effectively employed to scare off would-be intruders, and all in all, it works very well”. The Birmingham-based premises are now thankfully free of theft and opportunistic break-ins thanks to their 360-degree, colour dome camera, five PTZ cameras and a tannoy and intercom system, installed by Chubb Remote Monitoring Services – the UK’s leading player in this rapidly growing sector of the security market.
Yet it is the additional benefit of the system as a sales tool that has reaped further rewards, as Martin illustrates:
“The salesmen can return to the office after handing the vehicle keys to the customer and monitor their reactions from there. This is far less intrusive for the client than having a salesman hovering next to them, while affording us the opportunity to approach them at the most appropriate moment”.
Going beyond CCTV
The concept of remote monitoring is simple. Most CCTV systems are set up to detect unwanted entry to a site. Using a combination of detectors and beams, the system is alerted when anyone or anything walks into the field of detection. This will alarm the system and ensure that the relevant images are caught on video.
Remote Monitoring differs in that when it is triggered by an alarm, the CCTV systems call up the Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) at the same time. The transmission equipment captures the image form the relevant CCTV camera and sends this picture back to the ARC. The operators can therefore see for themselves exactly what is happening at the site. And because it uses standard telephone line, the geographic location of the ARC is irrelevant.
Using their skill and experience, the operators at the ARC can take the appropriate action. This can range form sending a tannoy message to the remote site, to calling the police and keyholder or alerting the Chubb emergency response service who’s nationwide mobile response team can be dispatched to the site immediately. In most cases, the tannoy message is sufficient to warn intruders away and prevent a crime before it takes place.
And, as Martin adds: “It has more than proved itself – both as a cost-effective crime deterrent and as an added-value sales tool.”
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