Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Urban Surveillance Assistant

🎯 Role Definition

The Urban Surveillance Assistant supports citywide public-safety operations by monitoring CCTV and sensor networks, conducting video analytics and pattern-of-life analysis, preparing evidence-quality incident reports, and coordinating timely responses with field units and partner agencies. This role combines operational surveillance, technical system oversight, data-quality assurance, and strict adherence to privacy and legal guidelines — delivering situational awareness that improves public safety, reduces response times, and informs strategic deployment of resources.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

CCTV Operator / Camera Control Room Operator
Security Officer / Patrol Officer transitioning into monitoring
Emergency Communications / 911 Call Taker
GIS Technician or Data Analyst with public-safety focus

Advancement To:

Surveillance Supervisor / Control Room Lead
Public Safety Operations Manager
City Intelligence or Crime Analyst
Video Forensics Specialist
Smart Cities / IoT Operations Lead

Lateral Moves:

Emergency Dispatcher
Crime Analyst or Intel Analyst
Compliance / Privacy Officer for surveillance programs
Field Evidence Technician

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Continuously monitor multiple live CCTV, thermal, and IoT sensor feeds to detect, verify, and classify incidents (e.g., traffic collisions, suspicious behavior, crowding, abandoned objects) while maintaining high situational awareness and minimizing false positives.
Conduct near-real-time video analytics and automated alert review (including people-counting, loitering detection, vehicle-trajectory anomalies) to validate system-generated events and escalate confirmed incidents to operations supervisors and first responders.
Prepare clear, time-stamped incident summaries and structured incident logs that include camera IDs, timestamps, geolocation (GIS coordinates), observed activity, and actions taken, ensuring admissibility for investigative and prosecutorial use.
Capture and export evidentiary-quality video clips and still images following chain-of-custody procedures, metadata preservation, and secure storage protocols to support criminal investigations and civil inquiries.
Operate and troubleshoot core Video Management Systems (VMS) and analytics platforms (e.g., Genetec, Milestone, Avigilon) to ensure uninterrupted monitoring, performing routine checks on camera health, focus, PTZ presets, and network connectivity.
Coordinate directly with police dispatch, transit operators, fire and EMS units, municipal code enforcement, and private security partners to provide live situational updates and visual verification to expedite appropriate field response.
Conduct proactive pattern-of-life and trend analysis by reviewing historical video and sensor data to identify hotspots, recurring safety risks, and opportunities for targeted interventions or patrol adjustments.
Execute daily and weekly system health reports, including camera uptime, bandwidth utilization, incident response times, and analytics alert accuracy metrics for operations leadership and technical teams.
Apply privacy-first protocols: redact or limit access to sensitive footage, execute lawful video disclosure processes, and ensure compliance with municipal ordinances, state laws, and organizational privacy impact assessments.
Support evidence requests by internal investigators and external agencies, responding to subpoenas and FOIA requests in coordination with legal and records teams while protecting personally identifiable information where required.
Maintain accurate shift handover briefings and logbooks to provide continuity across 24/7 operations, documenting unresolved incidents, follow-up tasks, and any equipment or access issues.
Provide on-the-fly geospatial referencing using GIS overlays to correlate camera views with street-level maps, transit networks, and critical infrastructure, improving the accuracy of unit dispatch and resource allocation.
Participate in after-action reviews following major incidents, contributing video timelines, annotated footage, and recommendations for operating procedure or system configuration changes.
Assist in the configuration and tuning of computer-vision models (e.g., object detection thresholds, person/vehicle classifiers) in collaboration with data scientists and integrators to improve precision and reduce nuisance alerts.
Support training and mentoring of new monitoring staff on operational procedures, privacy practices, evidence handling, and effective camera-based incident verification techniques.
Maintain secure user access management: request, approve, and audit operator credentials and role-based permissions to sensitive systems and archived footage.
Respond to information-security incidents involving surveillance systems by following escalation protocols, coordinating with IT and cybersecurity teams, and documenting timelines and exposure assessment.
Execute routine physical or remote inspections of cameras and sensors (e.g., cleanliness, obstructions, alignment) and coordinate maintenance tickets with field technicians or vendors to minimize blind spots.
Liaise with procurement and technical teams on camera placement recommendations, specification validation, and pilot testing of new analytics plugins or sensor types to enhance detection capabilities.
Create and update written procedures, SOPs, and quality checklists for evidence extraction, metadata tagging, analytics validation, and interagency information sharing to ensure consistent and defensible operations.
Participate in community outreach or privacy advisory meetings as required to explain program safeguards, answer public inquiries, and incorporate community feedback into operational practice.
Monitor and report compliance with retention schedules, automatic deletion policies, and secure disposal of footage in line with legal and policy requirements.
Actively contribute to continuous improvement initiatives: identify recurring operational bottlenecks, propose automation opportunities, and help roadmap upgrades that improve response times and data quality.
Maintain professional situational briefings for senior leadership during elevated incidents, providing concise visual summaries, threat assessments, and recommended operational actions.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
Assist in testing and validating new analytics models or sensor integrations in sandbox environments.
Provide subject-matter input for procurement evaluations and vendor demonstrations.
Help develop training materials, quick-reference guides, and e-learning modules for surveillance operations staff.
Conduct periodic audits of archived footage to validate retention schedules and compliance with deletion policies.
Maintain logs of interagency data sharing and third-party access, ensuring all disclosures are authorized and documented.
Participate in emergency tabletop exercises and cross-agency drills to validate coordination protocols and camera-driven response workflows.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Proficient in live CCTV and VMS operations (e.g., Genetec, Milestone, Avigilon, Exacq) including camera navigation, bookmarking, clipping, and export for evidence.
Experience with video analytics platforms and configuration (people/vehicle detection, loitering, perimeter breach, ANPR/LPR systems).
Strong understanding of video forensics basics: frame rate manipulation, metadata preservation (timestamps, camera IDs), transcoding best practices, and chain-of-custody requirements.
Familiarity with GIS tools and geospatial referencing to map cameras, incidents, and response assets (e.g., ArcGIS, QGIS, web-based mapping overlays).
Working knowledge of networked camera architectures, PoE basics, bandwidth considerations, and basic troubleshooting of camera connectivity.
Competence with incident-reporting systems, RMS integration, and structured logging (including timestamp precision and event categorization).
Ability to operate radio and dispatch communication tools and synthesize visual information for concise communication to field units.
Experience handling sensitive data: access controls, secure export, encryption-at-rest, and secure file transfer protocols.
Comfortable using analytics dashboards, KPIs, and reporting tools to produce operational metrics and uptime/quality reports.
Basic scripting or familiarity with automation tools to support repetitive evidence export or reporting tasks (advantageous but not mandatory).

Soft Skills

Exceptional attention to detail and pattern recognition — able to spot subtle anomalies across multiple simultaneous feeds.
Strong written communication skills for clear, admissible incident narratives and evidence documentation.
Calm under pressure with proven ability to prioritize and escalate critical incidents rapidly.
Professional judgment and ethical decision-making, particularly around privacy and sensitive content exposure.
Collaborative mindset for working across operations, IT, legal, and external agency stakeholders.
Customer-service orientation when interacting with law enforcement, municipal partners, and community members.
Critical thinking and continuous-improvement focus — comfortable suggesting process and tooling enhancements.
Time management skills for shift work, handovers, and multi-incident coordination.
Discretion and integrity in handling confidential information and media.
Adaptability — able to learn new software, analytics models, and evolving privacy regulations quickly.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

High school diploma or GED.

Preferred Education:

Associate or Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice, Homeland Security, Computer Science, Information Technology, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), or a related field.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Criminal Justice / Criminology
Homeland Security / Emergency Management
Computer Science / Information Systems
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Data Analytics / Applied Statistics
Cybersecurity / Network Administration

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 1–5 years of experience in CCTV operations, security monitoring, emergency communications, or related public-safety roles.

Preferred:

2–4+ years operating VMS or surveillance systems in a municipal, transit, campus, or private security environment.
Demonstrated experience coordinating with law enforcement or emergency services and producing evidence-quality exports.
Prior familiarity with privacy compliance, FOIA/subpoena processing, and chain-of-custody procedures.
Experience with video analytics and geospatial mapping tools preferred.