The future of estate security

There is no doubt that an increasingly pressing concern for homeowners, estate security, and property managers is the continual increase in crime. Statistics released in the Governance, Public Safety and Justice Survey show that 983,000 households in South Africa experienced housebreaking incidences during 2021 and 2022. Another 155,000 households experienced home robberies in that same period.

While South Africa’s private security industry has been gradually adopting more advanced security technologies to safeguard private properties and neighbourhoods in the past decade, new approaches are always needed to safeguard ourselves and our homes.

According to Marcel Bruyns, sales manager for Africa at Axis Communications, the smart surveillance landscape of today, is making it easier and more effective to detect and respond to threats than before, and the latest smart surveillance technologies offer promising solutions for the future.

“From network cameras with motion sensors to sophisticated video analytics that use artificial intelligence (AI), smart surveillance technologies offer new ways for us to identify and respond to potential threats,” he said.

Here Bruyns walks us through the top technologies which are changing the estate security landscape.

Real-time monitoring – when time is of the essence

Bruyns highlights that in a country where response times by local law enforcement in South Africa are notoriously slow, most valuable of all is the ability of real-time monitoring to change how security personnel deal with and respond to incidents.

“Real-time monitoring is crucial in the fight against crime because, when an incident occurs, time is of the essence. With the help of network cameras, estate security personnel can monitor real-time video feeds, track activity patterns, and receive alerts when something suspicious is detected. This is a significant improvement from traditional security measures (such as security guards overseeing conventional CCTV cameras), which often rely on post-incident analysis to identify and respond retroactively to security breaches,” Bruyns shares.

The benefits for homeowners, estate security personnel, and law enforcement, including improved communication and coordination and the ability to provide real-time updates on potential security breaches and faster response times as a few minutes’ difference in response times can prevent crime and save lives.

The advent of analytics enhances efficient monitoring

By integrating advanced video analytics into estate security systems with analytics-ready network cameras, property managers can take advantage of far more advanced monitoring techniques to enhance estate security, while still safeguarding personal data with tools like private masking on cameras.

“Video analytics is a lot better at finding potential security risks than older methods like manual monitoring because of advances in AI. By automatically analysing the data collected by cameras and sensors, advanced video analytics can identify suspicious behavior, track movements, and alert security personnel to various kinds of threats. This can enhance the effectiveness of estate security and reduce the time and resources needed to monitor an estate around the clock,” said Bruyns.

Smarter access control critical to safety

Technologies such as facial recognition, biometric access, motion sensors, and geofencing are increasingly used in South Africa to improve access control and trigger alerts when certain areas are accessed. Facial recognition technology, for example, can help identify individuals who are not authorised to access a particular area, triggering an alert and enabling estate security personnel to investigate.

“Geofencing is used more and more to help estate security staff find possible security breaches, as it creates virtual boundaries around a particular area, triggering alerts when an individual enters it. Access control is a critical component of estate security, and the latest smart technologies provide more sophisticated layers to prevent unauthorised access,” he said.

Towards a safer South Africa

“With real-time monitoring, enhanced access control, and advanced video analytics, homeowners can enjoy greater peace of mind knowing their properties and families are protected. Ultimately, the future of estate security in South Africa lies in adopting smart surveillance technology. With the right technology in place, we can work towards creating a safer future,” Bruyns concludes.