OMAHA (kptm) - It's something we see every day, bad surveillance video.

When you can't make out the person though, it often times doesn't hold up in court.

A local security company says having a security camera is good, but where you put it is key.

Nearly every surveillance video is of the top of someone's head, but most crooks wear hats, you can't see their face.

SEi Security said having a camera up high is good but only if you have another camera at eye level. "It takes placing that camera at the right height, in the right field of view to capture what is needed," Director of Sales, Jason Cloudt said.

Surveillance that's near the ceiling isn't a good idea. You can't make out the crooks faces, that's why having good surveillance video is key. "With a lot of crimes that we investigate, there's not a lot of evidence left in a lot of cases and with that video that we can obtain from surveillance, you can't put a price on that," police officer, Aaron Thompson said.

It's also necessary to have multiple camera and the image quality is important. Cloudt specializes in home and business security. He said it's all about having the right camera. "When we zoom in on an image it becomes blurred because a standard camera has about 440,000 pixels that make up that image. With today's video, IP video and megapixel cameras, I have millions of pixels and so when I zoom in I'm able to see a clear image of just part of that scene that I'm recording."

He said something many forget is maintenance. He said it's important to keep your system updated. "Cleaning off the cameras, adjusting, perhaps adding lighting because we're in a darker room...we've added manufacturing equipment or got new tile on the floor that made our room darker, there's a lot of things that go into having your video system do what you need it to do."

Often, surveillance video is too dark. That's because when the cameras installed its daylight when your business is open, but Omaha police say a lot of theft happens at night. Cloudt said it's important to consider that when installing cameras as well.

The Omaha police department's business watch program said it wants to help you and your business. It has a team of officers that will come out and evaluate your security system and give you tips on how you best can use your equipment.

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