Electronic Security Systems

Preface

The technology and sophistication of electronics has exploded.

Digital cameras on cell phones and the Internet have affected

everyone. It was not many years ago that a cell phone was a luxury;

today it is becoming a necessity. The Internet has become part of the

majority of households. Preschool children can operate personal

computers and grandparents send messages and JPEG pictures

over the Internet. Online purchasing and banking have become big-

time businesses, seriously impacting brick and mortar stores’ sales.

These enhancements and advantages in technology have been a

benefit to our society by providing more capabilities, more automa-

tion, and less physical effort to accomplish a task at a reasonable

cost. A microwave oven is the appliance of choice for most families

today. Technology has impacted all aspects of our work and play.

These enhancements in technology have also affected security

equipment. Enhanced sophisticated electronics is part of virtually

every electronic security functional system. Processing capability

has been added to the alarm sensors to mitigate false alarms and

intelligence has been added to access cards/badges (smart cards)

which process duplex communication via a reader. The card can be

updated by the reader, can internally process information, and

communicate back to the reader. Entire electronic functional

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systems have incorporated features that allow improved operation

and integration into a total electronic security system solution. Even

communications between field equipment and a central station

have become faster and more sophisticated. The Internet/Intranet

is part of many access control, alarm, and closed circuit television,

CCTV, systems available in today’s market.

The sophistication and intelligence in the systems have forced

the end user to become more technically oriented. Unfortunately,

the typical security professional’s knowledge of these various sys-

tems has not kept pace with the changes. Over the years, there have

been many seminars, books, and training classes related to physical

security with the primary emphasis on personnel, legal issues, facil-

ity considerations, management, and interfacing with law enforce-

ment. In the early days, the physical security profession focused on

the physical issues while the electronic systems possessed very

rudimentary capabilities. Since many security professionals in

the private business sector originally came from a physical secu-

rity/law enforcement background, this training was appropriate.

With the expanding technology, the security professional tended to

consider the electronic security applications based upon functional

solutions versus a holistic approach. Little consideration has been

given to a key sophisticated component of the security program as

to ongoing issues, maintenance, system configuration, and system

philosophies.

Even today, the information that is available is primarily con-

strained to an electronic security functional area. For example,

CCTV systems information is available that explains the different

camera technologies, digital video recording, matrix systems, differ-

ent communication techniques, lighting issues, and so on. There is

limited information as to how all these components of any one func-

tion should operate with other functional security systems. There is

a need to provide information about these different electronic secu-

rity functions with a focus on integration, philosophies, tradeoffs,

and ongoing issues for the end user in a corporate environment. A

holistic view will incorporate these concepts as well as the percep-

tions of employees, visitors, contractors, management, and various

business units within the company. The electronic security concerns

needed to address all the different electronic security functions in a

corporate central monitoring facility must be evalvated.

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