News - Hawkeye Electronic Security Ltd - Hawkeye Electronic Security Ltd

Videofied – Property Monitoring

2014-12-29T00:00:00+00:00

Videofied – Property Monitoring by Cellphone

For an installation fee of $120,000 upwards and monthly charge of $10,000, security-conscious Jamaicans can now monitor movements at their homes via their mobile phones.

The service is also available to businesses at average subscription cost of $250,000 plus a monthly fee.

Six weeks into its launch in Jamaica, the latest electronic security surveillance system is being touted as more cost-effective than manned security solutions, creating the possibility of job losses for security guards.

Hawkeye Electronic Security Limited says it has struck a partnership deal with United States-based RSI Video Technologies to bring to the Jamaican market the new product, Videofied, a wireless video security system which delivers alarm notification and video images in real time to its monitoring centre and, if clients desire, to their mobiles.

Significant savings

“Some of our customers are looking at the solution to reduce the need for static guards, which would result in significant savings for them,” said Sean Clacken, Hawkeye’s sales director.

A security guard earns at the very minimum $151.60 per hour, and would on a 40-hour weekly schedule be paid basic wages of just over $6,000 per week.

“By simply deploying the outdoor motion viewers to watch sensitive areas, companies will be able to reduce their guard complement and allow the Videofied technology to work for them,” said Hawkeye Managing Director Derrick ‘Ricky’ Mahfood.

Hawkeye, a 21-year-old company with 160 employees, operates in three of the largest urban centres: Kingston, Montego Bay and Mandeville, where it recently expanded.

The new office has a five-mem-ber response team Mahfood said.

The company is not engaged in the supply of the traditional security guards posted on properties but sells mainly electronic surveillance that is backed by response teams that are deployed from various posts in the areas the company serves.

Videofied represents a step up on the motion technology the company previously sold, Mahfood said.

Those surveillance equipment often could not determine whether, on some properties, alarms had been tripped by intruders or a really strong breeze.

Noting that unlike closed-circuit systems, for example, Videofied provides video verification when motion is detected and eliminates false dispatches that can be triggered by animals or moving tree branches.

The video component of the new service, however, feeds the image to the monitoring centre in real time, allowing a better read of the situation, he indicated.

“Once an indoor or outdoor motion viewer detects movement it sends a video clip to our 24 hour monitoring centre,” Mahfood said.

“Video clips can be simultaneously sent to the client’s smartphone.

The new system is said to be wireless, portable and uses internal batteries with a 3-year life span and each operating system can accommodate up to 24 motion viewer cameras.

“If an intruder is spotted on the video image, an armed response team is dispatched and the police notified,” Hawkeye said. “We can say there is a crime in progress because of what we see.”

The company has not disclosed details of the deal with RSI Video Technologies, but said the arrangement is based on the level of sales it can generate in Jamaica.

The product is being pitched at households as well as business installations, such as cell towers, pumping stations, vacant buildings, construction sites, power stations, warehouses and for rooftop monitoring.

Hawkeye says more than 100,000 Videofied systems have been installed in countries in Europe, Asia, United States, Australia and South America over the past two years.

GPS tracking device unearths chop shops

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Patrick Foster, Jamaica Observer – April 6, 2008

Amidst runaway car thefts in the island, modern technology has provided an almost foolproof method of motor vehicle security — the much-heralded global positioning system (GPS) tracking device. According to industry data, a motor vehicle is stolen in Jamaica, on average, every seven hours with the recovery rate lagging single-digit per cent behind.

The GPS tracking device, however, offers an opportunity, not only to improve the recovery rate, but also unearth the numerous chop shops where stolen vehicles are routinely scrapped. “With an increased use of the system, it has led to the discovery of many chop shops across the island,” Patrick Jones of Hawkeye Electronic Security told Auto.

Hawkeye is one of the three local security companies promoting the state-of-the-art motor vehicle tracking service. According to Jones, use of the cutting-edge system has been “growing tremendously” island wide, both in private motor vehicles and for company fleet control. “The clientele is great,” he said, without giving exact figures. And with sophisticated approaches being taken by criminals, even using wreckers to steal vehicles, Jones strongly recommends the tracking device. “Even with an alarm and immobiliser a vehicle can be quickly removed by a wrecker and this is where a tracking device is effective,” he said, adding that there were no gadgets to scramble or divert the GPS signal from vehicle.

Insurance companies Globe, NEM and ICWI have also embraced the system, offering up to 15 per cent discount on comprehensive insurance premiums if a tracking device is installed in a vehicle. Jones however cautioned that no matter the virtues of the tracking system, it is not a deterrent to robbery as there is no way of knowing if a tracking device is installed in motor vehicle. “The device is installed in a discrete part of the vehicle and there is no way of knowing exactly where it is placed,” said Jones.

Installation, he added, is a very meticulous process and takes up to three hours to complete. What the tracker does, he explained, is transmit the exact location of a vehicle, in real time, to the monitoring centre from anywhere in the island. Redundancies are also built into the device to allow continuous transmission even if the motor vehicle-battery is disconnected. “We have a system that uses a back-up battery which allows the signal to be transmitted when the battery is disconnected,” said Jones.

With the tracking device the location of a vehicle is immediately transmitted to a monitoring base if the vehicle is removed out of a prescribed area or contact is made via a panic button signal or telephone. A tracking system costs approximately $30,000 for installation plus an annual fee of $18,000, payable in monthly instalments of $1,500 for the 24-hour monitoring of a vehicle. “We do not sit down and monitor a vehicle as it moves, but once we receive a signal we act on it immediately,” Jones said, adding that the rapid response team from his company works in conjunction with the police.

At Hawkeye an engine immobiliser, which allows the vehicle to be shut down from the base, and a fixed or remote panic button are priced as separate options. “If you are in an uncomfortable situation the panic switch can be activated,” said Jones. “Once we get that signal a team is dispatched,” he assured.

Woman pleads guilty

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Woman pleads guilty in attempting to steal nine textbooks

The Jamaica Observer – August 29, 2006

A 51-year-old woman was last week given a suspended sentence after pleading guilty in the Half-Way-Tree Resident Magistrate’s Court for attempting to steal nine textbooks from the 70b King Street branch of Kingston Bookshop.

The woman, Sharon Smith, who appeared before RM Martin Gayle, was given six months at hard labour for the offence, but had the sentence suspended for 12 months .

According to court documents, on August 19, at approximately 2:45 pm, a security guard employed to the bookstore noticed four women, who were standing closely together, walking towards the store’s exit attempting to cross the sensormatic security system at the same time. Upon the approach of the four women the store alarm went off, and the security guard, the documents said, ordered the women to step back, then to cross the sensormatic system individually.

Shortly afterwards the security guard noticed Smith who was retreating behind one of the store’s bookshelves and alerted one of his colleagues within the bookstore.

Smith, who the court was told had nine textbooks in her hand, was handed over to the police who arrested and charged her.

New Cost Effective Cameras Beef Up Port Security

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The Gleaner – July 25, 2006

Hawkeye Electronic Security Limited has signed a contract with the Government to provide closed circuit television (CCTV) surveillance equipment for the ports of Kingston and Montego Bay.

Industry, Technology, Energy and Commerce Minister, Phillip Paulwell, who made the announcement at a Hawkeye-organised CCTV seminar at Medallion Hall Hotel in Kingston last week said that the technology to be provided was an upgrade of the CCTV system, which has been in place at the two ports for the last two years.

Hawkeye’s director of sales, Sean Clacken, said each port would be overhauled at a cost of US$500,000 to US$600,000. He noted that while the initial cost was high, the system would pay for itself in two years, as it required minimal maintenance and no additional infrastructure.

With digital CCTV technology connected to an Internet protocol, Mr. Claken said, security personnel would be able to remotely monitor the sites. “This means that you will be able to monitor a location from anywhere in the world, suffice there is Internet connection available,” he pointed out.

Saving Money

According to Mr. Clacken, the Government would save money from improving the system, as there would be no need to replay hours of tape to search for an incident. In fact, he said, personnel could locate footage by simply entering a date and time or applying a mouse pointer to a timeline on a monitor screen.

“If the incident time is not known, a search can be made by marking an area on the image and asking the system to search for activity in that area and a list of events will be offered for review. During all these operations, normal recording continues, uninterrupted,” he told JIS News.

The cameras will facilitate ’round-the-clock’ surveillance of the ports, Minister Paulwell said. The cameras “will cover the access gates, container stations, ships at port and perimeter areas around the port”.

“CCTV is a relatively new technology, but one that can play a significant role in the prevention and detection of crime. I believe therefore, that it is vital that we harness and make the best use of this technology,” the minister stated.

Provision of the system was “part of preparations to comply with the International Maritime Organisation’s International Ship and Port Facility Code,” he said.

The Minister noted that, “while resources are limited, security must be seen as the most urgent sector and given the necessary financial and other resources, not only in the public sector, but also in the private sector”.

Minister Paulwell said recommendations have also been tabled for improved surveillance at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Facility. He said that cameras would be installed to monitor the “gate lodge as well as the main pedestrian walk-through gate”.

Property monitoring

2014-12-29T00:00:00+00:00

Avia Collinder, The Gleaner – October 4, 2009.