SecurityManagementJune 1007

BY ANN LONGMORE-ETHERIDGE

One for the BooksCrime novels are among the miles of books sold at Strand Book Store, where realcrimes are now easier to solve with the new IP-surveillance.

THREE CENTURIES AGO, English essay-ist and poet Joseph Addison wrote, "Booksare the legacies that a great genius leavesto mankind." The Strand Book Store is ded-icated to helping the public obtain copiesof such legacies for their own libraries.With its "18 miles of books," the store hasmuch to offer, but it can't afford to give itaway. Hence, the store needed to find andinstall an integrated CCTV system thatcould be operated effectively by manage-ment and employees without a weightymanual as required reading.

In 1927, Strand, named after the famouspublishing street in London, opened onFourth Avenue, one of 48 book stores onNew York City's legendary Book Row. Theowners, the Bass family, eventually movedthe store to its current location on Broad-way. Over the decades, the amount ofspace that Strand encompasses has grownfrom 4,000 to 55,000 square feet on fivefloors of an II-story building. Additionally,a second store in the Financial Districtopened about 10 years ago, and Strandalso has a large Web site that allows read-ers from around the world to choose froman inventory estimated at several millionbooks.

Eddie Sutton, the store's general man-ager, says that he had "very little contactwith security for the early part of my ca-reer," but after being instrumental in theestablishment and operation of Strand'sretail Web site, employees occasionallycame to him with security technologyproblems. Eventually, he became the defacto security manager.

In the I990s, Strand had a traditionalanalog camera and Videotape recordingsystem. Because of the length of time it

took to find recorded incidents ,md thepropensity for employees to forget to re-place videotapes, this system was oustedaround 2001 in favor of a digital cameraand DVR system. However, according toSutton, this only made things worse.

The DVR was complicated to use, mal-functions were frequent, and retrieval ofimages was difficult. Another dilemma wasthat the number of cameras installed (lessthan a dozen) exceeded the system's storagecapacity. When that capacity was reached,as sometimes happened over weekendswhen Sutton was not at work to delete pre-vious recordings, no footage was preserved.

In 2004, in the midst of a large-scalerenovation project, Sutton and Strand'sowners decided not to expand the digitalsystem into new areas of the building thatwere coming into use. 'The calls to mehad become more frequent to take careof issues that I really couldn't [fix) because

of the limitations of the equipment ...butjust wasn't worth it," he states.

At the same time that Sutton was cast-ing about for options, Strand was install-ing a hybrid telephone system that waspartially voice over IP. "I thought, 'Therehas got to be a security system that isrunning over IP. Something must be outthere.' So I googled it and almost immedi-ately found On-Net."

On-Net Surveillance Systems, Inc., ofSuffern, New York, sent representativesfrom the company and a local contractsystems integrator to Strand to discussOn-Net's NetDVR IP video surveillance sys-tem. "One of the things they did was a demowhere they used a PC in my office to accessa remote camera, and it was immediatelyclear that if you could use a browser, youcould operate this system," Sutton says.

Sutton then worked with Fairview,New Jersey-based Nortronics, the systems

integrator, to decide exactly what wasneeded. "We talked about our require-ments; we did numerous walk-throughsof the store for camera placement and todecide if we [wouldl need fixed or pan-tilt-zoom cameras," Sutton says.

They also looked at known and poten-tial problem spots in the store with an eyetoward accident prevention. In the past,customers had fallen off ladders and downstairs or had had books tumble fromshelves and strike them. "For insurancepurposes, you want to have those areascovered as well."

The installation began in 2005 and con-tinued through 2006. In the first phase,12 IP network cameras were installed-the majority of those in areas that had notbeen used as retail space before. As moreareas were refurbished in 2006, morecameras were replaced or added in areassuch as the main level, the loading dock,stairwells, and warehouse space. There arenow 36 cameras.

Sutton says the installation of theequipment went smoothly, and, aftertweaking, the system functioned perfectly."Once I figured out the system, it didn'trequire very much in terms of help fromthe integrator or On-Net."

The system allows custom views to becreated, such as by floors or all entrancesand exits Users can log in from remoteIoca tions as well. The system worked lastwinter when a disturbed individual en-tered the store and pushed a security offi-cer and patrons.

The camera footage showed that asecurity guard provided by an outsideagency took the money."

before it is written over. Any authorizeduser who merely opens a browser andlogs in can watch camera feed around theclock. Sutton assigns usage rights in con-junction with the store's owners Access is"very limited," he explains, but the mainfloor manager in each store can produceclips, so that if police need them rightaway, they don't have to wait.

"In the past, when there have been inci-dents like this... it was hard for the policeor the district attorney to understandwhat happened," Sutton recalls. But dur-ing this incident, "I was able to follow thesequences from the time that the personentered, while he made his way throughthe store to the places where incidents oc-curred." When the police responded, Sut-ton could present them with evidence thatdidn't rely on eyewitness accounts, whichcan be contradictory and unreliable.

In another incident, a man claimed thatafter his daughter had retrieved her bagfrom Strand's oversized-bag-check area,all the money in her wallet was missing.Sutton says he ran the CCTV sequencefrom two different cameras that are fo-cused on the bag-check area. The camerafootage showed that a security guard pro-vided by an outside agency took themoney. This kind of crime solving wouldhave been impossible prior to the system'sinstallation, he says.

Strand paid approximately $50,000 forthe system, Sutton says, adding that thetechnical support from On-Net has been"responsive and helpful. The system isexactly what 1 thought it would be, andit's great.".

(For more information: Mulli Diamant,VP Sales, On-Net Surveillance SystemsInc.; phone: 845/369-6400; fax: 845/369-8711; e-mail: info@onssi.com. MariaGonzales, vice president, Nortronics;phone: 8001700-0357; fax: 201/945-3774;e-mail: info@nortronics.com.)

Ann Longmore-Etheridge is associateeditor of Security Management.

Reprinted with pennission tram Security Management, June 2007by The Reprint Outsource, 717-394-7350