CCTV is Closed-circuit television. It is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific, limited set of monitors. It differs from the broadcast television in that the signal is not openly transmitted, though it may employ point to point wireless links. In present days the companies and organizations have become more conscious about their security so the surveillance systems have gained a massive importance. CCTVs, Digital cameras and IP interfaces are being used for longer retention periods at higher resolution. Many organizations today want to shore up the safety and security of their employees, visitors and students. They also want to secure their premises and assets so seeks for innovative, affordable alternatives that deliver rapid and appropriate responses to crimes or emergencies that may arise.

CCTV is used for surveillance in areas which need security, such as banks, casinos, and airports or military installations. The increasingly use of CCTV in public places has caused debate over public security versus privacy. Even in industrial plants, CCTV equipment may be used to observe parts of a process that are remote from a control room. CCTV systems may operate continuously or only as required to monitor a particular event.

The first CCTV cameras used in public spaces were crude, conspicuous, low definition black and white systems without the ability to zoom or pan. But the modern CCTV cameras use small high definition colour cameras that can not only focus to resolve minute detail, but by linking the control of the cameras to a computer, objects can be tracked semi-automatically. 
The implementation of automatic number plate recognition produces a potential source of information on the location of persons or groups.

ACE Computersmanufactures better resolution CCTVs that can track movement across a scene where there should be no movement, or they can lock onto a single object in a busy environment and follow it. Being computerized, this tracking process can also work between the cameras. The company’s combination of CCTV and facial recognition has been tried as a form of mass surveillance. This type of system has been proposed to compare faces at airports and seaports with those of suspected terrorists or other undesirable entrants. The CCTV systems of the company can check many thousands of faces in a database in under a second.