No Video Recorder, Many Monitoring Stations

The next step up from a decoy camera is a CCTV system with a real working camera connected to a monitor. You can have as few as one or as many cameras as you want. You can either have one monitor for each camera, or have more than one camera connected to each monitor. This set-up is a good solution if you want to be able to monitor movement and activity throughout or around the store in order to spot suspicious individuals. If you then want to prevent a potential crime, you will have to have a security guard or someone else who will be able to monitor the activity, and react to anything unusual.

You can decide to get hidden cameras, so that thieves are not aware they are being watched. Cameras can be disguised as fire alarms, clocks, mirrors, or telephones. These sorts of cameras are used more often to combat employee theft than shoplifting. But if you want to deter potential offenders, you should get big obvious cameras and put up signs. You have to make decisions on whether you want your cameras to be fixed in place, or if you want to be able to move them to track someone's movements. You have to decide if you want it to have fixed focus which makes it possible to see what is going on only from one distance, or if you want to have option of zooming in and out. If you want to have different areas monitored at different times, you may have more than one camera connected to a monitor. Similarly, you can have visual input rotate, so that, for example, input from each camera is on for 5 or ten seconds, and then the monitor switches to the next camera. You should not have too many cameras on one monitor, or else you will not able to monitor the input successfully. See more about specific types of cameras and options in Types of Cameras section.

These types of CCTV systems are in the medium price range because they do not include video recorders. For a simple system with one camera and one monitor you can expect to pay around $1,000. However, if you need cameras with zoom, or if you require cameras to move, the prices will start going up. As you add more cameras and more monitors, it becomes more expensive too. The more complicated the wiring, the more expensive the installation will be, so make sure that the money you save on buying one fewer monitor will not be spent on wiring!