Re: Compact cheap "surveilance" camera

[Matt Ion <soundy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

bitsyboffin@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
> The club is an aircraft club, we are on an uncontrolled but busy
> airfield about 1/2 an hours drive out of the city.  The door lock is a
> combination, everybody in the club is given it.  We have no set "open
> hours", members come and go as they wish, first one in opens up, last
> one out closes, that's the way it's supposed to work at least.  We only
> have about 120 members, so if I can find out people who have left it
> open and make sure they don't do it again, then we can at least try and
> reduce the problem.
>
> So alarm monitoring isn't really the answer here, I don't think it
> would be manageable with the unset hours of operation, and people
> coming and going all the time.
>
> Same goes for card access ( a. cost, b. it's not going to record who
> left the door open, only who initially opened it).

Cost aside, a card-swipe system (or key-fob or other codable access
device) will really give you what you need, IF you go with a
self-closing, self-locking door.  Every time someone swipes in, his
access ID is logged, so you know who (or at least whose card) opened the
door.  The only way the door will stay open then is if that person
blocks it open.  Either way, it becomes that person's responsibility.
If there's a recurring problem with one person leaving the door open
and/or passing out his card to other people, you simply revoke that
card's access.

If you wanted to be really fancy, most access-control systems can
interface to a camera system (DVR or VCR-based) with a text-overlay
interface, to imprint the name or code number of the person entering
over the picture of the gate...