Technical surveillance
Surveillance is the continuous, secretive watching or observation of persons, places, vehicles or any reasonable object for the sole purpose of obtaining information. There are three types of surveillance- physical, technical and a combination of physical and technical surveillance. Physical surveillance mainly requires the physical observation of the targeted object or person by an individual or surveillance teams which can be done either on foot or by the use of a vehicle.
Technical surveillance on the other hand employs the use of equipment such as telephone tapping, listening devices, pin-hole video camera basically for the purposes of monitoring, observing and recording the activities of the target at any given time (Swanson, 2009). In terms of physical surveillance, there are a number of considerations that need to put in place when planning for a security system of this kind. To begin with, it is important to assess all the physical security needs regarding the facility location, design, layout and construction.
Assess the external and internal control effectiveness regarding the analysis of the barriers, entrance, exists, control points, authorization levels, lighting, hardware and security devices. Establish effective programs that are effective in terms of personnel screening especially before employing the physical security system. It is also important to make enforcement of the authorization levels, access restrictions, key usage, signing in and signing out, proper security systems use, opening and closing procedures, surveillance and vigilance. Ensure that there is a full documentation of all the security information, problems and violations.
Ensure that there are levels of classification and overall restriction basically on all the sensitive materials that need to be monitored. Establishment of all the procedures used for safeguarding or handling of materials that are highly sensitive is also important (Gilliom, 2004). It is important to develop and carefully enforce employee access restrictions within the specific facility and around the places that are highly risky. It is also important to use appropriate systems of security, vaults and safes, proper anti-intrusion and anti-theft devices.
Ensure the development of a comprehensive plan for business security program and the upgrading efforts (Zetter, 2009). The following question should come into the mind of the physical surveillance planner: What are possibilities of having a proper surveillance of the given object? Are the access controls effectively in place? Is the structure to be secured in a location with a history of high crime rates? Is the location of the structure to be secure in a remote area and isolated? If this is true, what kinds of measures have been put in place to safeguard such a facility? Have all access points been monitored and properly protected?
What is the probable response time for the police or the in-house security staff in a situation of a security breach? (Jensen and Draffan, 2004) Physical surveillance may be preferred to technical surveillance in most cases especially because of the following reasons: The level of sophistication in reduced and so it is less costly to plan and employ; Most of the physical surveillance systems are highly effective and not fault prone such as human beings and vehicles; Most physical surveillance systems are not error prone and so accurately reveal the information that is needed in the right manner.
This is highly opposed to the technical surveillance which is highly prone to the fault and can produce errors at anytime in a case of system failure (Parenti, 2004). References: Swanson, C. R. (2009). Criminal Investigation, Tenth Edition (p. 732). 1221 Avenue of the Americas. New York, NY 10020: McGraw-Hill. Gilliom, J. (2004). Overseers of the Poor: Surveillance, Resistance, and the Limits of Privacy. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press. Zetter, K. (2009).
“Threat Level Privacy, Crime and Security Online Feds ‘Pinged’ Sprint GPS Data 8 Million Times Over a Year” Wired Magazine: Threat Level. Retrieved from http://www. wired. com/threatlevel/2009/12/gps-data. Jensen, D. and Draffan, G. (2004). Welcome to the Machine: Science, Surveillance, and the Culture of Control. Chelsea: Green Publishing Company. Parenti, C. (2004). The Soft Cage: Surveillance in America From Slavery to the War on Terror. New York: Basic Books.
Sample Essay of PapersOwl.com