Parking lot security cameras: add alerts to the cameras already on your lot

Before you buy new cameras, check what you have. A lot camera that only records tells you what happened after it is over. Alerts tell you while it is happening, which matters when a crew spends an hour on a lot.

Software can read the video from the cameras already on your lot and send a photo to your phone when a person is there outside your hours. It does not replace lighting, fencing or a response plan. It adds the part that is usually missing, which is someone being told.

Lots are open to the street and mostly empty at certain hours. Trouble tends to cluster in the same places.

• Entrances and exits. Every extra way in and out is harder to watch. Fewer is easier to control.
• Dark corners, the far rows and the edges of the lot.
• Stairwells and elevator lobbies in garages, especially where they sit in blind spots.
• Pay stations, doors and any place where a person stands still for a while.
• Loading areas and the bin area at the back.

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A camera is only as good as what it can see. Check these before you add anything.

• A clear view of each entrance and exit lane.
• The far rows and the edges, not only the area near the building.
• Doors, stairwells and pay stations.
• Light. Cameras need constant light to see well, from daylight or from the lights on the lot. Color cameras are better at telling one vehicle or person from another.
• No blocked views from new signs, shrubs, stacked stock or parked trucks.

• 1. After dark, walk the lot with your phone or a screen showing each camera.
• 2. Note every view that is dark, blurred, blocked or pointing at the wrong place.
• 3. Fix light first. A new camera cannot fix a lot that is dark.
• 4. Clean the lenses. Webs, dust and spots cause blur and false alerts. See security camera maintenance.
• 5. Replace or add a camera only where the view cannot be fixed any other way.

Our software installs on a Windows computer at your site in 60 seconds and reads the cameras and recorder you already have. Parked cars are expected on a lot, so the standard alert is about people, not every vehicle in view. For a full example of how this works on a lot, read after-hours alerts for a car dealership lot.

• Tell you when a person is on the lot in the zones you mark, outside your closed hours, with a photo, the camera and the time. This is standard on every site.
• Tell you when a camera has been covered, sprayed or knocked out of focus, which is often the first step in a theft. Also standard.
• Tell you when a camera stops sending video. Also standard.
• Tell you about smoke and flame in the view of a camera.
• Rules for vehicles in plain words, such as a vehicle at the exit gate when the lot is closed, set up with our team for your layout.
• Alerts when someone lingers near cars or a doorway, set up for your site with our team. It is not switched on for everyone.

• They do not send guards, speak to anyone, sound a siren or call the police. The people you choose get the photo and decide what to do.
• They cannot tell you who the person is. If your staff or cleaners work late, set your closed hours to match.
• They are not instant. A second check happens before the alert is sent, and some thefts are over in minutes.
• They cannot see what the camera cannot see. A dark corner stays dark.
• We do not read license plates on lots in the US. Plate reading is a separate job for specialist cameras.

• Choose the cameras that cover the entrances, the exit lane, the far rows, the edges and any doors or stairwells.
• Set your closed hours once for the whole site. If your lot is never empty, such as at a mall or a hospital, tell us what should not happen and when, and we set rules for your layout and hours.
• Choose who is told. Two people is better than one: the owner or manager, and whoever answers the phone at night.
• Decide what happens next. Look at the photo, call the site, ask someone nearby to check, or call the police.
• Walk the lot after close with someone watching the phone, and check that the photo arrives.

Rules on cameras, signs and recording depend on where you are, so ask a lawyer. If your insurance policy names a protective system, such as a monitored alarm, ask your agent before you change it. If you are weighing a staffed service, read CCTV and remote video monitoring.

We are software, not a camera brand. We work with Hikvision, Dahua, CP Plus, TVT, Uniview, Axis, Hanwha, or any camera or recorder that offers RTSP or ONVIF.

• Our own AI models, trained in-house, watch every camera on the lot. A second, larger model checks each event before you are alerted.
• The alert is a photo with the camera and the time, on WhatsApp, Telegram or the Foreman app, while it is still happening.
• Your recordings stay on site, your recorder keeps recording, and we never train on your video.