Every home needs to be secured from expected or unexpected threats. Striving for security is considered as human instinct. Every person tries to secure their house from external horrors. However, the safety of the house depends on the neighbourhood as well. If you are living in the wrong community, then you are more likely to get robbed. And if you are moved into a new area, then burglars are more likely to break into your house.
There are several ways to make your house safe from housebreak and theft. If you are considering installing security cameras, then you should know about some pros and cons of using security cameras at your home. These pros and cons can help you decide whether you like the idea of installing security cameras at your home or not.
These pros and cons of using security cameras at home are as follows:
Pros:
Monitoring activities around the house:
A security camera can be used to monitor everything around your house. You can install security cameras in every corner of your house, which will maximize the scope of the surveillance. You may have seen in some movies that burglars and thieves often visit a place before breaking into a house, and they often make a proper strategy. You know what, it happens in real life as well. If you study your CCTV footage daily, then you can identify a suspicious person near your house easily.
Deter package thieves:
Package theft is one of the most common crimes that happens everywhere. A package may be delivered to your house when you are at work. Delivery guys often leave the package on your door. A package left on the door can grab the thief’s attention. However, if you have a security camera above your door, then the bad guy will run away; otherwise, he can get caught. There are plenty of studies which advocate that security cameras deter criminal activities.
Identification of offenders:
You can catch offenders with the help of surveillance cameras. There are some cameras which have new features such as face detection. You can use these security cameras to identify any individual who appears on the CCTV footage. Moreover, you can track down burglars if they have robbed your place.
Help to collect evidence:
CCTV cameras are helpful in the courts as well. Hundreds of cases are solved every month with the help of CCTV footage. Security camera footage can be recorded and saved for future use. If an accident happens in your street, then you can present your security camera recording that can show the exact situation. Moreover, the footage is evidence which can be provided to the insurance company as well.
Monitoring of children or pets:
It is awful when you are required to leave your baby with a babysitter. You cannot trust a stranger around your baby, but you have no other choice. In this case, a security camera can help you observe babysitter’s behaviour and activities. Moreover, if your children are old enough to be left alone but you are not comfortable with it, then you can install security cameras inside your house. You can see live footage on your smartphone. There is another good thing about surveillance that you can watch your pets as well. Trust me; it will help you enjoy your time at the office.
Home security:
Who doesn’t want to go on vacation? Everyone wants to enjoy their time off. But every person is too concerned about their home security. Now you can leave for your vacation with peace of mind since you can control your security camera system with your smartphone. If you notice something suspicious, then you can contact local authorities to inform about the situation.
Cons:
Invasion of privacy:
You may feel uncomfortable around CCTV cameras in your house because security cameras record everything. Moreover, your friends don’t want to be in your surveilled home as well. Invasion of privacy is one of the most common disadvantages of security cameras, and everyone complains about it.
Expensive equipment:
The initial cost for security camera installation is too much. Security cameras are expensive, and the surveillance camera installation companies will take a lot of money from you. However, there are different types of cameras which can be used for various purposes. You can choose a camera by comparing CCTV video resolution of different cameras.
Vandals can destroy cameras:
Some burglars and vandals destroy camera before committing a crime since they know that police will look at the surveillance footage for investigation. As it is mentioned above that these security systems are expensive and if they are destroyed then you will need some new equipment. However, this problem can be solved since you can hide your security cameras easily.
Limited vision:
You cannot see everything with the help of a security camera. Security cameras have a limited view. You cannot rely on surveillance cameras for solving every problem. If you want to see every inch of the place around your house, then you will need more cameras, which means more money will be spent.
However, this problem can be solved if there are 360-degree CCTV cameras. You will need just two or three of them to cover everything. There are some companies which are providing these cameras, but they are not efficient enough yet.
Distorted view:
Bad weather can affect security camera view, and you will not be able to see anything in the footage. Rain or dust can distort the view of a security camera as well. You will need to clean the lens every other day, and it will require physical effort.
Moreover, rainwater can even wreck the camera. However, there are water-proof cameras available as well, but you will still need to clean the lens every day.
Hackers:
It has been seen in some cases that security cameras can be hacked very easily and usually hackers hack into a security camera system to blackmail people. Moreover, CCTV footage can be used for defamation of an individual as well.
Author Bio:
Taylor Starc is a student of software technology, in his first year at Columbia State University. His obsession with security gadgets and new technologies has made him research more and more on the respective topic. In his free time, he likes to take up writing projects to support his education. He regularly writes blogs at https://mammothsecurity.com/blog/.
