Video surveillance systems may primarily be a form of deterrence for businesses in McAllen, TX, but that’s not their only purpose. They should also aid in active investigations and in keeping your team accountable. However, traditional systems generate massive amounts of footage, which become a chore for security personnel to sift through. There may not be enough time to thoroughly review it all and find relevant information, or it may simply fall through the cracks. 

Verkada’s cloud-based video surveillance addresses this issue directly with their smart search and event tagging features that make it easy to find footage in seconds. Any incident on your property is easy to investigate, based on the time it occurred or descriptions of the perpetrator. 

SEE MORE: How Video Surveillance Protects Financial Institutions 

What Is the Biggest Issue With Traditional Video Surveillance? 

While video cameras can serve as a deterrent, your surveillance system is only useful after an incident if you can act on the data it recorded. Security teams may spend hours searching for footage across dozens of cameras after a security breach. When you need to track suspicious vehicles or get a clearer image of a person of interest, every minute spent sifting through footage delays the investigation and makes it harder to catch bad actors. 

What Is Verkada’s Smart Search?

Smart Search uses edge-based analytics, which means each camera processes and analyzes video footage locally rather than sending it all to a central server. This on-site processing allows the system to instantly recognize key events and details—like when someone enters a restricted area or when a vehicle parks in an unauthorized zone—without relying on constant cloud communication or large file transfers.

While the analytics occur within the camera, the overall system is cloud-based. Once indexed, the data syncs to a central platform where security teams can search across multiple cameras from any location. You get the speed of local processing with the convenience of cloud access. Users can quickly filter footage based on specific times, object types, or activities, which makes it far easier to respond to incidents or conduct investigations without having to scrub through hours of video.

How Does Event Tagging Work?

For footage you find noteworthy, you can tag it with a specific event tag. For recurring incidents or ongoing investigations, it then becomes easy to store all relevant content together and share it with authorities. There are benefits beyond security as well. 

Department tags help you collect footage that may be useful to train future staff. A ‘Packaged Delivered’ tag helps to lump all deliveries together, so if anything goes missing, it’s easy to check if/when it arrived. 

What Do These Tools Look Like in Action?

Verkada’s search and tagging features are useful across a wide range of industries. Below are some ways that our clients are using them across McAllen, TX:

• A warehouse uses smart search to track suspicious loitering outside the loading bays 
• A school or office building tags footage of all unauthorized access attempts.  
• A retail manager identifies a shoplifting suspect by pulling clips based on their clothing. 

Verkada’s cloud-based video surveillance systems are easy to scale, making them equally useful in a standalone boutique store as in a multi-campus school environment. 

Talk to our team about upgrading your video surveillance system with advanced tools like Smart Search and Event Tagging. Call Circle Industries or fill out our contact form to get started with a customized security solution built for your McAllen business.