CCTV Operators are mainly responsible for operating and maintaining surveillance equipment, watching both live and recorded video surveillance footage, reporting incidents or suspicious behavior and contacting the authorities when necessary. CCTV Operators can be employed at hospitals, airports, schools, housing complexes, gated communities, malls and many other types of establishments.
Regardless of the type of institution they work for, the role of a CCTV Operator is relatively uniform across the board. They are charged with maintaining control center equipment, watching multiple monitors at once, making note of any unusual occurrences and interacting with law enforcement officers. Typically, CCTV Operators will report to a higher-level member of staff, such as a CCTV Supervisor or CCTV Manager, and will be expected to maintain a high level of fastidiousness, professionalism, care and integrity at all times.
CCTV Operator Duties and Responsibilities
In the interest of protecting people, information, and property, CCTV Operators perform a variety of tasks. After analyzing multiple online job postings, we identified these core CCTV Operator duties and responsibilities.
Operate Equipment
To do their job effectively, CCTV Operators must have a thorough understanding of the equipment they’re working with. They are tasked with deleting or archiving old footage as needed, organizing old footage in an orderly fashion, and switching out videotapes, compact discs, memory cards, hard drives, or servers.
Maintain Equipment
Simply knowing how to operate video surveillance equipment is not all there is to be a CCTV Operator. Additionally, CCTV Operators must also be able to maintain and repair that same equipment, whether it’s analog or digital.
Store Footage
Since any amount of footage from any given day could be required at any given time, properly storing footage is one of the most important roles of a CCTV Operator. A storage policy can vary slightly from company to company, but in general CCTV Operators will need to correctly catalog all footage so that it can be easily recalled at a later time.
Watch Surveillance
This is the crucial difference between a CCTV Technician and a CCTV Operator: while the Technician may be asked to come in for a few hours, complete any necessary repairs and then leave, CCTV Operators must watch the video surveillance footage is it’s being recorded.
Make Observations
CCTV Operators don’t just watch a bunch of screens all day. Rather, they must be unwaveringly focused and observant so that whenever they witness something unusual, suspicious or questionable they are able to make a detailed note of it.
Report Incidents
If a CCTV Operator sees something illegal on one of their monitors, it is up to them to contact the appropriate authorities at the appropriate time. In serious situations, CCTV Operators can also save the police vital time by immediately reporting a criminal’s license plate number, clothing, tattoos, or other identifying features.