Glossary
The vocabulary of physical security in brief: grades, alarm receiving centres, alarm confirmation, video surveillance and data protection.
- Alarm receiving centre (BS EN 50518)The centre that receives and handles alarm signals. For a URN, UK police generally require monitoring by a centre certificated to BS EN 50518 Category I or to BS 5979.
- Anti-maskingA detector function that reports when someone covers or blinds it so it can no longer see. In Spain the law requires it to be tested on Grade 3 movement detectors at every annual service.
- Alarm confirmation
- The checks an alarm receiving centre makes to decide whether an alarm is genuine before asking for a response: several signals in sequence, images, audio, or a person on site.
- Alarm receiving centre (ARC)
- The staffed centre that receives signals from alarm systems, checks them and calls for a response. In Italy it is the centrale operativa, in Spain the central receptora de alarmas (CRA).
- Anti-masking
- A detector function that notices when someone covers or blinds the device to stop it detecting. It becomes a requirement at the higher security grades.
- CCTV signage
- The notice displayed before the recorded area. It tells people that cameras are in use, who operates them and why, and points to fuller information.
- Controller
- Whoever decides why and how personal data is used, for example the business that has cameras installed. The controller answers for those decisions even when someone else installs or runs the system.
- Environmental class
- Shows where alarm equipment can work: indoors, sheltered outdoors or outdoors. It is not the same as the security grade, which is about resistance to attack.
- False alarm
- An alarm signal that does not correspond to an intrusion or a real danger. The usual causes are user error, badly positioned devices and poor maintenance.
- Retention period
- How long recorded footage stays available before it is deleted. It is set according to the purpose of the system and, where the law sets one, within a maximum.
- Security grade
- The classification from 1 to 4 that the European standard EN 50131 gives to intruder alarm systems. It describes the kind of intruder the system has to withstand: the higher the grade, the better prepared the expected intruder.
- Security officer
- The private security worker who protects people and property. In the UK the role requires a Security Industry Authority licence. The Italian equivalent is the guardia giurata, the Spanish one the vigilante de seguridad.
- System integrator
- The company that designs and commissions security systems made of several parts (intrusion, video, access control) and makes them work together.
- Video analytics
- Software that examines camera images to recognise events, for example a person crossing a line or staying in an area. It is used to alert the operator only to what deserves attention.