Security Systems Across Industries in Tampa, Clearwater, and St. Petersburg

Various institutions from a wide range of industries in the United States have invested millions of dollars on video surveillance technology. A recent nationwide survey published in the journal "Nationwide Survey of Companies With Security Expenses,"  found that 75 percent utilize CCTV surveillance. Private sector CCTV surveillance technology is operated in a wide variety of industries as well. These are manufacturing, retail, financial/insurance/banking, transportation and distribution, utilities/communications, health care, and hotels/motels. Since the 1980s, public video surveillance has gained wide popularity among businesses to promote public safety and improve customer environments.

Companies that provide security systems in Tampa, Clearwater, and St. Petersburg have allotted a substantial amount of their focus on commercial industries in need of monitoring important areas in their establishments. Commercial security systems of today now have state of the art equipment for surveying wide areas for security, fire safety, and other emergencies. Some of these include biometric ID technology, tailgating detectors for access control, full motion surveillance cameras, and intelligent systems software that controls alarms, lighting, and other emergency detection devices.

Small and large businesses in the Florida area have readily answered the need for the safety of their establishments and their clients. Convenient stores and big supermarkets in the Tampa Bay area have invested on security systems for easier monitoring of their good and their employees. Some have even used this technology to do market and product research.

In 1994, an area between St. Petersburg and Tampa Bay known as Gateway experienced increasing numbers of car thefts.  The State of Florida provided St. Petersburg a $42,000 grant to purchase mobile video equipment and night scopes for police officers in a surveillance vehicles. Within months, the number of auto thefts had decreased. According to police officials, the video surveillance combined with police officers with night scopes had a major impact.

Tampa Bay has been purchasing CCTV video surveillance systems with city funds for years to promote safety in growing suburban business and entertainment districts such as Ybor City. This pedestrian mall is primarily occupied by clubs, restaurants, and shops. According to the Tampa Bay Police Department, CCTV surveillance helps to meet the growing security needs of entertainment districts that attract large volumes of people.
Anytime Fitness is also one particular commercial establishment that has embraced the benefits of a reliable security system. Since the fitness center is open 24 hours a day, the obvious need for surveillance cannot be ignored.

CCTV surveillance is also very common in the workplace. According to the publisher of Privacy Journal, an employer, manager, board member, or supervisor can legally videotape employees with hidden cameras if they perceive anything suspicious. Video surveillance is one of 5 legal methods of observing suspected employees. Businesses also rely on CCTV video surveillance to detect sexual harassment in the workplace and to observe employees outside the workplace who may be involved in medical malpractice or worker compensation lawsuits. Some research suggests that American workers feel safer in the presence of surveillance systems in the workplace. Despite oppositions by some groups in terms of violation to privacy, the idea of putting surveillance cameras in public areas has gained more and more acceptance through the years, especially after incidences like the World Trade Center bombing and the Oklahoma City bombing.

The widespread acceptance of video surveillance in commercial institutions has increased the demand for better and more adaptive security systems. For industries that earn millions and billions of dollars annually, or for newly-established small business owners, investing on a reliable security system does not have to be a difficult choice for anyone.