Color Night Vision and Keycard Access at Riff Music

The installation

The photographs below are from the completed job. They show the camera positions and how each housing sits against the surface it was mounted to.

Infrared footage left faces unclear

The old cameras switched to infrared after dark and produced the black-and-white images that make a description hard to defend. There was a recording after an after-hours incident, and not much it could prove. That is the wrong kind of evidence to hold when the point of the system is to identify a person afterwards.

The store also opens onto a parking area, so the outside view mattered as much as the retail floor. That is where the overnight exposure sits. The two problems also meet at the back of the store, where the staff door opens onto the stockroom.

Color at night on the floor and lot

We installed cameras with color night vision, using dome units inside over the floor and the register and bullet units outdoors for the lot and the entrance.

The outdoor housings carry lens heaters and weatherproof ratings, and we placed them under the eaves where the building allowed. For the exposed spots we added small overhangs, so snow and ice do not obscure the lens. Winter decides whether an outdoor camera is useful in February or only in July.

Keycards instead of keys on staff doors

The staff doors now use keycard readers with electric strikes, managed from a central access control system. A card can be issued, limited to a schedule and revoked the day someone leaves.

The locks were fitted without cutting into the door frames, which keeps the storefront intact and the work tidy. The reader sits at a comfortable height on the frame, and the strike is concealed in the jamb.

One system for doors and cameras

The camera and access control systems sit on the same network, so a door event can be matched to the video of the person who used it. Management checks both from one interface.

That link is what turns two separate systems into an answer. A keycard record says a card was used; the camera shows who was holding it. Together they are a record of the door and a picture of the person.

A record of every entry attempt

Every entry attempt is logged, granted or refused, and the log is kept with the video for later review. Lost keys stop being an emergency, because access is canceled rather than rekeyed.

The store keeps its color footage after dark and a record of who came through the staff doors. That is the point of the project, and nothing about it changes how the store trades during the day.