CCTV is being increasingly used to combat crime in crime-ridden countries, and there is consensus that South Africa has an unacceptably high crime rate –this is why CCTV has been pinpointed by market watchers as a lucrative market for technology solution resellers.
The last World Bank Investment Climate Survey: South Africa report highlighted business crime as a constraint cited as being of greater concern than labour regulations, skills shortages and macroeconomic instability, with average costs of crime as a percentage of sales being higher for South African businesses than all other comparators with the exception of Argentina.
According to the Grant Thornton International Business Report released earlier this year, 46% of privately held businesses in South Africa have been negatively affected by crime over the past 12 months. “Criminals, however, are shifting their focus from larger retail outlets to smaller businesses which are seen as softer targets”, says Johan Burger, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria.
“This has led to a growing trend towards using surveillance equipment , including DVR (digital video recording) cameras, as a way of eliminating loss and theft of stock, particularly among retailers,” said Ryan Martyn, a director of Syntech, one of the leading distributors of CCTV solutions in South Africa .
Within the residential environment, CCTV is a very effective deterrent to potential criminals bent on burglary. The Institute of Security Studies states that victims of housebreaking are 54% more likely to improve their home security, and that taking these precautions is likely to make these individuals feel safer.
Martyn commented that “crime detection is one of the main reasons for the implementation of CCTV surveillance systems – leading to an effective method of combating crime such as break-ins and theft.”
Syntech is the official distributor for CP-Plus, one of the world’s leading security brands. The company was recently announced as India’s number one security brand, including being rated as number one in video surveillance, number one in CCTV camera technology, and number one in digital video recording (DVR).