security camera

A camera installed in a location to constantly monitor activities. This can help curb petty crimes such as trespassing, theft, shoplifting and leaving without paying, and can also be used as evidence for major crimes.

Older security cameras might be mounted on a motorized pivot that allows an unseen operator to turn the camera to track a subject. Nowadays this arrangement is mostly obsolete, and is more often seen in fiction. In reality, and especially in retail environments, security cameras will usually be covered by a dark-tinted dome which makes it practically impossible to tell which direction the camera is pointing (or if there even is a camera behind it at all).

See also

• camera feed
• fixed-point camera

The following tags are aliased to this tag: cctv and surveillance_camera (learn more).