Earlier this year, Provident introduced a new service called NightOwl. It’s a completely wireless, remote video alarm system that is able to detect activity and then send live video alarms to our Operations Centre in Kerrisdale.
NightOwl is primarily focused on the construction market because it is so easy to deploy and is much cheaper (and more effective) than a full-time Security Guard. However, we’ve also started using NightOwl in commercial sites, vacation properties and other locations that are outside of our guaranteed five minute response zone.
Some of the features that make NightOwl such an interesting service/product is that it does not require any electricity, telephone lines, internet connection or any other infrastructure to work. It can detect activity in absolute darkness and sends video alarms to us wirelessly.
The video quality is intentionally low-resolution (read: crappy) because it has been optimized to provide quick detection and to be able to be transmitted to us very quickly. When we receive a NightOwl video alarm in our Kerrisdale Operations Centre, all we need to determine is whether the cause of the alarm is a human or not. If we see anything suspicious, we can call the Police and report a verified crime in progress… which gets a very quick response (as opposed to a regular alarm without verification which gets very, very slow – if any – response from the Police).
Click on the video below to watch a video recap from a burglary on Monday, June 20th 2011 where NightOwl detected two crooks at an Abbotsford construction site. From our Operations Centre in Kerrisdale, we directed the Abbotsford Police to exactly where the burglars were and both of them were arrested.