Modern CCTV systems can capture more video, across more locations, in greater detail than ever before. But that creates a significant operational challenge. A security team responsible for monitoring dozens or hundreds of cameras cannot realistically scrutinise every feed continuously. Important incidents may go unnoticed, while operators spend valuable time reviewing routine activity or responding to alarms that turn out to be harmless.
AI-enabled video analytics offers a potential solution by identifying particular events, behaviours or patterns and directing attention towards activity that may require investigation.
However, more automated detection does not necessarily mean better security. A system generating hundreds of irrelevant notifications can overwhelm operators just as effectively as one requiring them to watch hundreds of screens.
That makes the most useful starting question: How can we turn the information captured by CCTV into fewer, more meaningful security decisions?
Start with the Events That Matter
Video analytics should be configured around genuine security requirements rather than every capability a platform happens to offer.
A warehouse might need to detect unauthorised movement around loading areas outside working hours. A commercial building may want to identify entry into restricted spaces. A large campus could benefit from alerts associated with perimeter activity.
These scenarios require different detection rules and responses.
Motorola Solutions offers AI-enabled video analytics through its Avigilon portfolio, including technologies designed to detect unusual movement and direct operators towards potentially significant events.
The important question is not whether a camera can recognise movement, people or vehicles.
It is whether the behaviour being detected indicates something that the security team needs to investigate.
A person entering a car park during normal opening hours may be entirely expected. The same activity in a restricted area after midnight could justify attention.
Security context determines the value of the alert.
Understand the Difference Between Detection and Intelligence
Basic motion detection can identify changes within a camera’s field of view.
More sophisticated video analytics may distinguish between different types of activity, objects or movement patterns, depending on the technology.
AI-enabled systems can also support searches through recorded footage, helping investigators locate events without reviewing every minute of video.
Motorola Solutions’ Avigilon Appearance Search technology, for example, allows operators to search recorded video for people or vehicles matching selected visual characteristics.
These capabilities can make video information considerably more useful.
However, the system’s interpretation should not automatically be treated as a verified fact.
An automated detection is an indication that something may require attention.
Security teams still need appropriate processes for assessing its significance.
Reduce False Alerts Through Better Configuration
False and irrelevant alerts are among the most frustrating challenges in video analytics.
Weather, moving vegetation, reflections, changing light and normal site activity can all affect detection performance.
Reducing those notifications requires careful configuration.
Security teams should establish where detection is necessary, what activity should trigger an alert and when the rules should operate.
A loading bay might require different settings during deliveries from those used overnight. A perimeter camera may need to exclude movement on an adjacent public footpath.
Thresholds and detection areas should be tested against real operating conditions.
Importantly, reducing false alerts should not mean simply making the system less sensitive until notifications disappear.
The objective is fewer irrelevant alerts without missing the events that matter.
Match Alerts to Operating Hours
Buildings rarely operate in exactly the same way throughout the day.
Offices, shopping centres, healthcare facilities, logistics sites and other premises may have different security requirements depending on occupancy and operational activity.
Video analytics should reflect those differences.
For example, movement around a warehouse entrance may be expected during a delivery shift but suspicious when the building is closed.
Integrating video with schedules, access control or other building systems can help provide context.
Johnson Controls offers video surveillance and analytics as part of a wider security portfolio that includes access control and integrated building technologies.
For security managers, the benefit of integration should be practical: making it easier to distinguish normal activity from an event requiring intervention.
Design Alerts Around the Operator
A control room should not be judged by how many notifications its systems produce.
Operators need to understand what an alert means, why it has been generated and what action is expected.
Where possible, notifications should provide immediate access to relevant video, location information and associated security events.
Different categories of alert may require different levels of urgency.
An intrusion into a critical area might justify an immediate response, while other activity may be suitable for later investigation or reporting.
The workflow should also define how alerts are acknowledged, escalated and closed.
The aim is to ensure that analytics reduces workload rather than transferring it from video monitoring to alarm management.
Connect Detection with Response
Identifying suspicious activity is only the beginning.
Security teams need an agreed response.
That might involve reviewing footage, contacting an on-site officer, verifying an access-control event or escalating to an appropriate external service.
For organisations using integrated security systems, analytics can potentially provide additional context for alarms and access events.
Grantfen Fire and Security provides CCTV alongside access control, intruder alarms and wider electronic security systems, while North delivers connected technology and security solutions across complex estates.
The value of these services lies partly in how different technologies support coordinated operations.
A camera detecting activity around a restricted entrance is useful.
An integrated process that helps an operator verify the event and arrange an appropriate response is considerably more valuable.
Make Investigations Faster
Video analytics can also improve how security teams investigate incidents after they occur.
Traditionally, reviewing footage could involve searching through long recordings from several cameras.
AI-enabled search can help narrow that process by identifying potentially relevant events, objects or movements.
OpenEye provides cloud-managed video technology with capabilities supporting video search, alerts and centralised management.
Motorola Solutions’ Avigilon technology similarly offers AI-assisted video search designed to help operators locate relevant footage more efficiently.
For buyers, the practical test should be whether investigators can find the right information quickly, review it in context and export usable evidence.
Search results should be treated as investigative leads rather than infallible conclusions.
Original footage, timestamps and relevant contextual information remain important.
Review How Cameras Perform in Practice
Analytics depends on the quality of the information cameras capture.
Poor lighting, obstructed views, incorrect angles or inadequate image detail can undermine detection.
Security teams should therefore review camera positioning and image quality before assuming that analytics software will solve every monitoring problem.
Installation and maintenance specialists such as 2CL Communications, Grantfen Fire and Security and Imperium Security can have a role in ensuring CCTV infrastructure is appropriate for the intended application, subject to their specific service capabilities.
Cameras may also require adjustment when the environment changes.
New shelving, altered vehicle routes, vegetation growth or modifications to building layouts can affect what a system sees.
Analytics performance should therefore be reviewed as part of ongoing CCTV maintenance.
Consider Multi-Site Management
Organisations operating several premises may benefit from managing CCTV alerts and footage centrally.
However, individual sites rarely have identical requirements.
A retail location, logistics warehouse and corporate office may require different detection rules, response arrangements and operating schedules.
Cloud-managed video platforms can potentially help organisations administer those differences through a common management environment.
OpenEye offers centralised video management and remote access capabilities relevant to distributed estates, while larger integrated technology providers can support complex multi-site surveillance environments.
Security teams should determine which processes should be standardised and where local configuration is necessary.
Consistency is valuable, but not when it ignores genuine differences in risk.
Keep Human Oversight in Place
AI-enabled surveillance can support faster identification of potentially significant events, but security decisions still require appropriate human judgement.
This is particularly important where a detection could lead to intervention affecting an individual.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) emphasises that surveillance must have a defined purpose, be necessary and proportionate, and comply with relevant data-protection requirements.
More intrusive technologies, including facial recognition used to identify people, can raise additional legal and governance requirements.
Security teams should distinguish between general video analytics and biometric identification rather than treating every AI capability as equivalent.
They should also understand how detection results are verified, documented and challenged where necessary.
The fact that a system can perform a particular analysis does not automatically justify deploying it.
Measure Whether Analytics Is Helping
Video analytics should be evaluated against operational outcomes, not simply the number of events detected.
Security teams may want to monitor false and irrelevant alerts, time to verification, operator workload, response times and the proportion of significant incidents identified.
They should also examine missed events where these can be established through testing or incident reviews.
A reduction in total alerts is useful only if important activity continues to be detected.
Similarly, a faster investigation process should be assessed according to whether relevant evidence can be located accurately and efficiently.
Regular reviews should identify where detection rules, camera positions or response workflows need adjustment.
The most effective analytics environment is one that improves as the organisation learns how it performs.
Questions to Ask CCTV Video Analytics Providers
Security teams should consider:
- Which events can the system identify?
- How are detection rules adapted to different locations?
- Can rules change according to operating hours?
- How are false and irrelevant alerts reduced?
- How is the risk of missed detections assessed?
- What information accompanies each alert?
- Can analytics integrate with access control and alarms?
- How do operators verify and escalate events?
- Can recorded video be searched using analytics?
- What happens when network connectivity is interrupted?
- Can different sites have individual configurations?
- How are analytics performance and operator workload measured?
- What privacy controls and permissions are available?
- How are new capabilities tested before wider deployment?
- What maintenance and optimisation support is provided?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CCTV video analytics?
CCTV video analytics uses software to examine video and identify defined events, objects or patterns. Depending on the system, it can support live alerts, monitoring and searches through recorded footage.
How does AI improve CCTV?
AI can help distinguish between different activities and direct operator attention towards potentially relevant events. It can also assist with reviewing recorded video, although performance depends on the technology and its configuration.
Can video analytics reduce false alarms?
Yes. Carefully configured detection rules, appropriate camera positioning and ongoing tuning can reduce irrelevant notifications. However, organisations should also test whether important events continue to be detected.
Does video analytics replace security operators?
Not necessarily. Analytics can reduce routine monitoring work and help prioritise attention, while operators remain important for verifying events, exercising judgement and coordinating responses.
Is AI-powered CCTV subject to UK data-protection law?
Where surveillance processes personal data relating to identifiable individuals, relevant UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 requirements apply. More intrusive uses, such as facial recognition for identification, can involve additional obligations.
Product & Services Guide
2CL Communications Ltd
Communications and technology provider offering CCTV and related security systems. Its installation and integration capabilities may support organisations seeking to improve the coverage and operation of existing surveillance environments.
Website: https://www.2cl.co.uk/
Grantfen Fire and Security Ltd
Fire and security specialist providing CCTV, access control, intruder detection and associated electronic security solutions. Its integrated approach is relevant to organisations seeking to connect surveillance with wider site security operations.
Website: https://www.grantfen.com/
Imperium Security Ltd
Security services provider included within the CCTV category. Buyers should confirm the scope of its current CCTV installation, monitoring and video analytics capabilities directly.
Website: https://imperiumsecurity.co.uk/
Johnson Controls
Global building-technology provider offering video surveillance, access control and integrated security systems. Its portfolio includes solutions for organisations connecting video monitoring with wider building security and operational requirements.
Website: https://www.johnsoncontrols.com/
Motorola Solutions UK Ltd
Video security and analytics provider offering Avigilon cameras, video management and AI-enabled analytics. Its capabilities include unusual motion detection, alert prioritisation and video search technologies designed to help security teams identify and investigate events.
Website: https://www.motorolasolutions.com/
North
Technology and managed-services provider supporting connected security, networking and infrastructure across complex estates. Its capabilities are relevant to organisations integrating CCTV and other physical security systems within wider technology environments.
Website: https://north.tech/
OpenEye
Cloud-managed video security provider offering video recording, remote management, event-based alerts and video search capabilities. Its platform supports centralised management and investigation across single and multi-site organisations.
Website: https://www.openeye.net/
Better Detection Should Mean Better Decisions
AI-enabled video analytics has the potential to make CCTV substantially more useful.
But detecting more activity does not automatically produce better security.
The value comes from deciding which events matter, presenting those events to the right people and enabling an appropriate response.
A practical approach follows five stages: detect → verify → prioritise → respond → improve
Detect activity that may indicate risk.
Verify what has actually happened.
Prioritise events according to their significance.
Respond through an agreed process.
Then refine the system using what operators and investigations reveal.
The best CCTV analytics system isn’t the one generating the most alerts. It’s the one helping security teams make the right decisions sooner.
The Total Security Summit brings together senior security decision-makers and relevant solution providers through pre-arranged one-to-one meetings, providing an opportunity to explore CCTV, AI video analytics, access control, integrated security and related technologies.
Related Reading
This is the second article in our October CCTV series.
Our first article, Commercial CCTV Systems: What Security Teams Should Compare, explored camera coverage, image quality, monitoring, video analytics, storage, integration and data protection.
This follow-up moves from selecting the right surveillance technology to making it more effective in operation, focusing on reducing irrelevant alerts, supporting operators and improving incident response.
Sources
- ICO – CCTV and Video Surveillance: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/cctv-and-video-surveillance/
- ICO – Guidance on Video Surveillance Including CCTV: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/cctv-and-video-surveillance/guidance-on-video-surveillance-including-cctv/
- ICO – Data Protection Principles and Surveillance: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/cctv-and-video-surveillance/guidance-on-video-surveillance-including-cctv/how-can-we-comply-with-the-data-protection-principles-when-using-surveillance-systems/
- GOV.UK – Surveillance Camera Code of Practice: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/update-to-surveillance-camera-code
- Motorola Solutions – Video Analytics and Artificial Intelligence: https://www.motorolasolutions.com/en_xl/video-security-access-control/video-analysis-artificial-intelligence.html
- Johnson Controls: https://www.johnsoncontrols.com/
- OpenEye: https://www.openeye.net/
Image credit: https://unsplash.com/photos/white-and-black-camera-on-red-and-blue-wall-TBTfOdGhlvg
