Stranger Detection
February 7, 2024
Introducing AI Video Analytics for Stranger Detection: Our system uses smart technology to watch over your space. It can quickly spot unknown people and
Solutions · AI Solutions
Someone standing near a loading dock for ten seconds is nothing. The same person still there twenty minutes later is worth a look. Loitering Detection times how long anyone dwells in a defined area and raises an alert only once they’ve overstayed a threshold you set — not before.
Why it matters
Someone standing still isn’t inherently suspicious — but there’s a point where it stops being nothing and starts being worth attention.
A person simply standing around isn’t grounds to dispatch security — but by the time behaviour turns clearly suspicious, it may already be too late.
No one can stare at a camera for twenty minutes waiting to see if someone leaves — across dozens of cameras, that’s not a job for a person.
Footage reviewed after an incident confirms someone lingered — it doesn’t help catch it while it was still happening.
What’s inside
Draw a zone on any camera and the system starts timing the moment someone enters, resetting cleanly once they leave.
Set how long is too long for each zone — a loading dock and an ATM lobby don’t share the same reasonable wait time.
The moment the threshold is crossed, security gets notified — not a summary at the end of the day.
Keeps timing the same individual even through small movements within the zone, instead of resetting the clock on every shuffle.
How it flows
The moment someone steps into a defined zone, the system starts a dwell timer for that individual.
The timer keeps running as long as they stay, tracking the same person even as they shift position within the zone.
Crossing the configured threshold triggers an alert, with the camera feed on hand to assess and respond.
Time, not identity or exclusivity
Loitering Detection doesn’t check who someone is, the way Stranger Detection does, and it doesn’t treat a zone as fully off-limits, the way Human Intrusion does. It measures one thing — how long someone stays — which makes it useful in areas people are allowed to be, just not for very long.
MOD.03 · Also on the fleet
The same dwell-timer logic can run on a Collie robot’s onboard camera during a patrol, flagging a lingering presence in a loading area or car park aisle that doesn’t have a fixed camera watching it.
Where it’s deployed
Entrances and cash points where a long, unexplained wait is worth a closer look.
Rows and entry points where a car or person staying too long stands out.
Areas near restricted equipment where dwelling too long may signal tampering.
Common areas and corridors that should see brief passage, not extended presence, outside working hours.
A person remaining in a defined area for longer than a configured time threshold – for example, standing near a restricted gate for several minutes without moving on.
Yes, the dwell-time limit is configurable per zone, so a busy lobby and a quiet perimeter fence can each have rules suited to normal behaviour in that space.
It surfaces suspicious dwelling behaviour – near entrances, vehicles, or restricted perimeters – that a single glance at a monitor would likely miss.
Combined with the video analytics engine’s low-light handling, loitering behaviour can be flagged outside daylight hours, not only during staffed daytime monitoring.
Yes, the two commonly work side by side – Crowd Detection watches density, while Loitering Detection watches how long individuals remain, giving a fuller picture of unusual activity.
Introducing AI Video Analytics for Stranger Detection: Our system uses smart technology to watch over your space. It can quickly spot unknown people and
This feature is new and rolling out to early sites. Tell us about the area you’d want to monitor and we’ll be in touch about early access.