Unfortunately, a less-than-pleasant activity also strives in the city—crime. Every city has its share of lawbreakers that disrupt its peace and harmony. Crime can range from simple violations, such as illegal parking and speeding, to really serious ones, such as, murder. To combat them, each city dispatches law enforcers. Law enforcement uses the latest in weaponry, technology, and techniques in catching and apprehending criminals.



However, in most cities, the officers of the law are usually outnumbered. To make up for the disadvantage, they resort to surveillance cameras to monitor public areas. Surveillance cameras alert operators to areas where violations of the law occur, allowing them to dispatch police officers more quickly. Also the images caught on tape can be used as evidence if the criminal does manage to get away.

New types of surveillance camera are in use now in many cities. These are called wireless security cameras. As the name implies, these cameras are not connected by any wires. Standard cameras are connected to a central monitoring system via cables.

These wireless gadgets are gaining popularity. In fact, police units are installing them on several areas in the city. Too, government agencies, businesses, and private citizens are also using them.

The main advantage of a wireless system is that these systems are not limited by cables. That means they can be placed anywhere without much concern about the placement of cables. The signal is carried via a broadcast signal, which can also be accessed through the Internet if permission is approved.

Wireless systems generally use a five-to-one compression ratio. Higher compression rates are also available so that the images would be DVD quality. The downside of this high compression rate is that the hard-disk space of wireless cameras are filled faster than with a cable-fed camera. Wireless systems can time stamp the images.

Furthermore, more advanced wireless security cameras can alert operators by sending them an e-mail if an unusual activity is detected.

There are also disadvantages to the usage of wireless security cameras. For example, digital video recorders can sometimes pick up the signals from these cameras, threatening the security of the images. Also, if one knows the proper frequency, the signals can be jammed. Jamming a transmission means scrambling or blocking the signal so that it does not register properly in the monitors. Jamming a police transmission is a crime and is dealt with severely.

Also, they are not appropriate for long-term surveillance. That's because transmitting the signal requires a larger-than-usual amount of power, draining the battery power more quickly than their wired counterparts. Also, if they are not stored properly, they can be stolen with ease; there aren't any wires that are attached to them which helps secure these gadgets to their mounts or posts.