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Don't look now! Someone's staring at you from that far wall behind the artificial potted plants in this busy hotel lobby. But there's no need for that furtive glance like you have some lint on your shoulder. There's no need for those tiny furtive steps either. No one's stalking you. It's just the hotel's CCTV surveillance system. The hotel has recently been caught up in the wave of video surveillance. That someone staring at you from across the room is just the camera from the newly installed CCTV surveillance systems. In hotels and in places where there is high human traffic, state of the art CCTV surveillance systems have been mounted for purposes of safety and as crime deterrents.

That Constant Fear
The world, it seems, is gripped by fear of terrorist attacks. In fact, after 9/11, it seems to be a Herculean effort to make life go on - do business, travel, interact with others in densely populated places. After all, if there's anything 9/11 has shown us, it is that a bomb could go off in a sidewalk while you are having an al fresco lunch with a colleague, or blow up the trans-continental plane you are in while it's in in the air, cruising at 125,000 feet.

The security guys you see milling about do not reassurance you. You have always felt that security guys patrolling public places have a very limited capacity for preventing crime. They only act when something happens in their line of sight. By then, however, you'd be beyond help.

You're Safe Now
Installed in a strategic spot and equipped with cutting edge technology in surveillance cameras, CCTV surveillance systems can record everything that goes on in its line of focus. These recordings can later be retrieved and analyzed to recreate scenes.

Software developers now see the potential of CCTV surveillance systems in preventing a repeat of large-scale terrorism after the 9/11 attack at the World Trade Center. These developers are working hard to develop programs for surveillance systems, among them an important feature known as face recognition.

With face recognition installed in CCTV surveillance systems, it is now easy to recognize certain key features in the face of an individual. This face will be compared to a host of faces from a database of mug shots and photographs. A person flagged as dangerous can then be prevented from gaining access to buildings or public transportations, thus thwarting any planned attack or escape.

Big Investment That Pays Off
CCTV surveillance systems today now boast of functionalities not seen in the video surveillance systems of the past. This time, CCTV surveillance systems have

1. motion detection. This means that the surveillance system only records footage when movement triggers the surveillance system.
2. resolution as clear as day. Grainy footage is not a problem anymore with some video surveillance cameras featuring 1600 x 1200 dpi, or even more, resolution.
3. night and infrared vision. Even with low or minimal lighting, these new surveillance systems can record images with infrared technology.

Government administrators are seeing the positive side of surveillance systems. In fact, after 9/11, federal budget is flowing in for these new security measures. There are states which require the installation of surveillance systems in business establishments before these businesses can operate.

So, there is really no need to be afraid. CCTV surveillance systems, those new security guys, have your back. They are always watching.