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Talk-down & Deterrence

When you're working a live alarm, some site cameras let you respond on the spot — play a spoken warning out of the camera's speaker, sound its built-in siren, and flash its red/blue warning light. It's a fast way to make an intruder aware they've been seen while a reaction unit is still on the way.

The controls appear right where you're already looking: in the event's own Snapshot wall (Event details → View snapshot wall) -- not the Dashboards-deck Snapshot Wall, which has no deterrence controls.

Which cameras can do it​

Only active-deterrence cameras (with a built-in speaker and/or warning light) offer these controls. Capable cameras are set up automatically — see Deterrence messages in CleverOps. A camera that can't do deterrence simply won't show the controls.

Depending on the camera, you may see any of:

  • Talk — play audio over the camera speaker.
  • Siren — sound the camera's built-in siren.
  • Strobe — flash the warning light (red/blue on most active-deterrence models).

Playing a talk-down​

Video Talk, siren, strobe · 0:22
  1. Open the alarm and go to the Snapshot wall.
  2. On the camera you want, open its Talk down control (next to Live view and Snooze).
  3. Choose what to play:
    • A saved message — pick one from the dropdown. These are your VCR's pre-written messages.
    • A typed message — type a few words in the box and they'll be spoken over the camera.
  4. Optionally switch on Siren and/or Strobe, and set how long they run (10 / 30 / 60 seconds).
  5. Press Play.

The spoken message plays once over the camera; the siren and strobe run for the duration you chose and then stop automatically. You'll get a confirmation, and the action is recorded on the event timeline so there's a clear record of what was played and by whom.

Requires permission

Talk-down is gated by Snooze cameras — the same camera-control permission, which it deliberately reuses (camera.talkdown resolves to camera.snooze). There is no separate talk-down permission to grant. If you don't see the control on a capable camera, your role does not have Snooze cameras; a supervisor sets it on Control Room → Operator management.

Coming soon​

  • Record your own voice — speak a warning into your headset and play it over the camera live. A placeholder for this appears in the control; recording isn't enabled yet.

Good practice​

  • Keep spoken warnings short, calm and specific — that they're on camera, that response is coming, that they should leave.
  • Use siren + strobe together with a message for the strongest effect.
  • Everything you play is timeline-logged — treat it as part of the event record.