Making Your Business More Secure The Arlington County Police Department wants to ensure that your business does not suffer from a false sense of security. Does your business have a video security system in place? If so, you need to ask yourself these three (3) very important questions - When was the last time you had your video recorder cleaned?
- How often do you change your tapes?
- Is your security system outdated and obsolete?
If you do not know the answers to these questions, or if you have had the police department utilize one of your security tapes only to report that the suspect was unidentifiable, then this brochure is for you. During recent years, the utilization of video security systems in private industry has rapidly grown. This is primarily due to the relatively inexpensive cost of today's video recording systems compared to the cost of staffing security personnel. Every day, the Arlington County Police Department receives and processes numerous videotapes from retail stores, government offices, and other businesses located within Arlington County. Unfortunately, many times the video images are of such poor quality that they offer no assistance to a criminal investigation. Realizing the value of videotapes as evidence, there are several steps that can be taken to improve the quality of recorded images. Things You Can Do: - Provide regular maintenance to your video cassette recorders.
Video heads should be cleaned every 2000 hours or every 3 months. - Replace VCR tapes at regular intervals
Recorder Settings
(Hours) | Number of Uses |
|---|
| 12 - 72 | 20 | | 120 | 15 | | 168 - 240 | 10 |
- Use only quality video tapes in your recorders.
- Avoid using outdated video equipment.
The Arlington County Police Department has invested substantial resources in video enhancement and processing equipment. The purpose of this equipment is to assist you to make the most of your video security systems and to aid the police department in criminal investigations. In the unfortunate circumstance of a criminal incident at your place of business, this advanced video equipment allows us to process your videotapes in order to obtain the best possible images. However, a videotape of poor quality cannot be enhanced beyond the original image obtained at the time of the incident. Please take the necessary time to identify what you and your business can do to increase the reliability of your security videos. By following the easy recommendations outlined in this brochure you can greatly assist our department in helping to serve you better. | 
