The History of Six Commercial Security Systems

While making the Security Systems 101 industry guide, we got lost down the proverbial rabbit hole that is the history of each of the six security systems we cover: Security Guards, Guard Dogs, Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV), Remote Video Surveillance, Keyless Access Control systems, and Intrusion Detection (aka burglar alarms). Did you know that the first official security guards in Rome were actually firefighters? Or that the same RFID technology in your key fobs was used in WWII to identify friendly aircraft? We didn’t, either. So read on to discover the ancient history of the security technologies you use today!

History of Security Guards

People have sold physical protective services in some form or fashion has happened since the dawn of civilization, though it was very rarely recorded in official documents recovered by archaeologists and historians. (Ancient peoples had more interesting things to record for posterity, like mammoth hunts.)

However, there are a few early records of people serving as “security guards” — that is, private warriors hired specifically for protection and not otherwise serving formally within a country’s military.

• Pharoah Ramses II hired local Shardana as personal bodyguards, to supplement his own personal and national troops.
• Closer to true police officers than the modern security guard, the Roman regiment of Vigilies Urbani (“watchmen of the City”) was assigned to arrest burglars, maintain order, and track down runaway slaves within the city limits of Rome. Guarding was more of an ancillary duty — they were primarily responsible for putting out fires. The group was also known as Spartoli (“little bucket fellows”), in honor of the tarred wooden buckets full of water they hauled to put out fires.
• Japanese samurai began as humble freelance warriors to the elite upper classes of Japanese nobility, protecting important personages and fighting on behalf of their patrons. Eventually, they seized power as war leaders of powerful clans, but their name reflects their origins. Both the Chinese and Japanese characters that comprise “samurai”/“saburai” translate to “one who waits nearby” as a servant.

Today, security guard firms operate on the same principles they have for thousands of years: Train likely candidates and hire them out to clients to guard assets and people until the end of their contract.

History of Guard Dogs

Man’s best friend was also one of his best protectors. Historian Wolfram von Soden, for example, says that ancient Mesopotamians kept only two breeds of dog: greyhounds for hunting, and extremely large dogs that were “more than a match for the generally smaller wolves and, for that reason, were especially suitable as herd dogs.”

Canines’ instinctively protective nature for their pack were venerated as mystical by these early civilizations. In the ruins of Kalhu (located in modern day Iraq), scholars unearthed clay statuettes of dogs, buried beneath crumbled thresholds to protect the home’s occupants.

At Ninevah, other dog statues were found engraved with inscriptions describing the figurines’ imbued power of protection.

History of Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) Systems

Commercial video monitoring as we know it wasn’t possible until the 20th century. Actually, it wasn’t until the 1970s — when VCR technology allowed video reels to be recorded and erased for repeated use — that commercial businesses began to use closed-circuit television (CCTV) systems with any regularity.

Its popularity boomed in the 1990s, when advances in recording technology let several cameras record on the same channel, at the same time. The innovation saved money and time for folks trying to watch the video feeds, which encouraged adoption.

History of Remote Video Surveillance

Live remote video surveillance is the next generation of the traditional CCTV camera surveillance systems. Some CCTV systems manage live surveillance through security guards constantly watching its screens. However, live remote video surveillance means that the monitoring of the systems happens offsite at a professional security provider’s command center.

Frankly, live remote video surveillance systems are lightyears beyond where commercial CCTV started over three decades ago. Allowing for live interaction and mid-crime arrests, this modern security system allows for proactive security measures that grant you — and your employees — peace of mind and active criminal deterrence.

History of Keyless Access Control

When you consider the history of keyless security measures, you should really begin with the history of physical keys and locks. (After all, you can’t go keyless unless you start with a key.)

When we think of a lock-and-key system, the type most of us think of first — the pin tumbler lock — is actually based on an ancient Assyrian design.

A lock contains a large bolt running through the keyhole to secure the lock in place. Special pins of various lengths rest inside drilled holes in the bolt, preventing its movement. When the owner inserts the matching key, the key lifts the pins from the bolt. Finally released, the bolt can draw back and allow the lock to open. Today’s pin tumbler locks now use a flat, serrated key that probably looks a lot like the house key you had growing up.

But those keys are ancient history — literally. As computers began to grease the wheels of everyday commerce and society in the 1960s, a need for equally convenient access grew that didn’t rely on the pin tumbler method.

The first automatic teller machine (ATM) — built in 1967 — used a personal identification number (PIN) that matched a submitted check to check for authenticity, becoming one of the first public examples of “keyless” access control. Five years later in 1972, another bank issued the first magnetic strip banking card, also with a matching PIN for enhanced security.

These PINs became the backbone for modern keypad security system authentication. But keycodes can be clumsy, and lack additional security measures.

So, many organizations have traded manufactured metal keys for the more economical card or fob. These devices overwhelmingly operate on RFID technology, or Radio Frequency Identification. Originally developed during World War II to identify friend airplanes, modern day keyless entry cards project tiny radio-frequency magnetic fields into the surrounding area.

History of Intrusion Detection Systems (“Burglar Alarms”)

Modern electric burglar alarms owe their popularity to the American businessman Edwin Holmes. The original electromagnetic alarm design and patent was made by the obscure Reverend Augustus Russell Pope, but he sold it to Holmes in 1857 for $1,500. In today’s currency, that’s $40,451.96!

Holmes then tried to sell the alarm to Bostonians, but they weren’t having it. So, he decided to move to New York City, telling his son that it was a place where “all the country’s burglars made their home.”

(By the way, if you’re looking for a good read on New York City crime during the 1800s, try The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld. It’s a smashingly well researched and fun history originally written in 1928 by Herbert Asbury.)

Thanks to the gangs of thugs roaming New York’s streets, Holmes did indeed have much better luck selling his alarm systems in NYC. He and his son, Edwin Thomas, figured out how to use the newly lain telephone cables to facilitate massive alarm networks that could relay messages back to a central monitoring station — a model which security companies (like Eyewitness Surveillance!) still use to this day.

If you want to know more about these security systems — including how they work and whether they’d work well for your business — download the complete guide. It’s 30+ pages bursting with information you need to determine the best security system for your budget.

Originally published at Eyewitness Surveillance.